Lake-Effect Snow — Southern Cayuga, New York

2016-11-19 to 2016-11-22 · Southern Cayuga, New York

Event narrative

Snowfall totals ranged from 20 to 30 inches with 32.4 inches reported in Auburn.

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front crossed central New York on Saturday afternoon the 19th. Much colder air followed this front and was accompanied by several inches of snow, especially over the higher terrain. A slow-moving upper air low, which followed this front, slowly tracked across New York into northern New England from Sunday the 20th to Tuesday the 22nd. A northwest flow of cold moist air around this upper level low combined with moisture from the Great Lakes leading to a prolonged period of heavy lake effect snow. The lake effect snow affected an unusually large part of central New York including the southern tier counties, which typically do not see heavy lake effect snow. Hardest hit areas in central New York saw between 2 and 3 feet of snow over a 4 day period between November 19th and 22nd. At the Greater Binghamton Airport, 27.6 inches of snow fell in this period which was a record snowstorm. The heaviest lake effect snow affected the southern tier region on Sunday afternoon and night and then affected areas between Binghamton and Syracuse Monday into Monday night. All the snow tapered down on Tuesday the 22nd by midday.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 668263. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.