Winter Storm in Orleans, New York

A deep trough dug across the nation's midsection with an outbreak of Arctic air from the Great Plains to Texas. Low pressure developed near Louisiana and tracked across Pennsylvania toward southern New England on the eastern fringe of the cold air mass. A weaker initial wave of precipitation produced 1-3 inches of snow with a lull before the main event with deeper moisture, isentropic lift, and favorable jet dynamics arrived later in the day on February 15. While most of the area was originally forecast to see heavy snow, large scale drying aloft encroached from the south. This resulted in far less snow over the Southern Tier and from the Genesee Valley eastward. Selected snow totals for this event included 8.5 inches in Kenmore, 13 inches in Batavia, 12 inches in Hilton, 12 inches in Lewiston, 10 inches in Albion, and 7.5 inches in Warsaw.