Winter Storm — Lewis, New York

2025-12-29 to 2025-12-31 · Lewis, New York

Wider weather episode

A strong area of low pressure tracked across the central Great Lakes, into southern Ontario and then into southwest Quebec on December 29th. Its strong occluded front crossed the area during the morning into the early afternoon hours. Strong to damaging winds began to impact portions of the western and north central New York area as the front crosses the area and continued as cold air filtered into the region. Several reports were received of trees that were downed due to the strong winds and wind gusts of 60 to 79 mph were observed at area airports.

The colder air and repeated passages of troughs and cold fronts for the remainder of the New Years week developed into a prolonged lake effect snow event, bringing at least light snow to the entire area. Moderate to heavy lake effect snow at times, combined with breezy conditions, prompted the issuance of Winter Storm Warnings for many counties in the Buffalo County Warning Area. Lake effect bands shifted north to south and south to north with passing troughs and cold fronts during the week, leaving a large footprint of significant snowfall. Snow and breezy conditions impacted New Years Eve celebrations across the areas as well. The hardest hit areas for snowfall were mainly east to southeast of both Lake Erie & Ontario. Some snow amounts from the entire event were as high as 4 to 5 feet off of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Some notable wind gusts include: 79 mph at the Buffalo International Airport, 72 mph at the Skyway in Downtown Buffalo, and several other reports of wind gusts of 65 to 70 mph at western New York Mesonet sites.

Some of the notable snowfall amounts from this event include: 59.0 inches in Lacona, 56.5 inches in Richland, 51.5 inches in Colden, 44.0 inches in Glenwood, 34.5 inches in Cattaraugus, 33.6 inches in Silver Creek, 31.0 inches in Highmarket, 29.2 inches in Arcade, 25.5 inches in Batavia and 20.5 inches in Copenhagen.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1308238. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.