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Historic Lake Effect Event?! 11/17-11/21


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.SHORT TERM /6 PM THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY/...
...CRIPPLING LAKE EFFECT SNOW STORM BEGINS THIS EVENING...

All the ingredients are in place for a major lake effect snowstorm,
with more than ample lake induced instability, a cap averaging 12-
15k ft with EQLs near 20 kft, and periodic shortwaves which will
provide additional moisture. Leading shortwave moved through earlier
and stronger wave is crossing central Great Lakes. This wave is
already enhancing lake convection near CLE and this is what is shown
to lift across the eastern basin of Lake Erie to ignite a prolonged
and high-impact lake effect event as winds become southwest. The
lake effect snow band with look of a mesolow along it will move
rapidly northward, reaching the Buffalo metro area 8 to 9 pm this
evening.

The band will remain across the Buffalo area, but will meander
slightly south late tonight following the passage of the shortwave.
Moisture from the shortwave and the long fetch down Lake Erie will
support a very intense band with snowfall rates of 3+"/hr and some
lightning strikes. Initially this band will be oriented downtown
Buffalo to the airport, but it does look to settle slightly to the
south after midnight toward Southtowns before slowly easing back
northward toward daybreak. By daybreak Friday, much of northern Erie
county, except the Northtowns will be looking at snow amounts of a
foot to a foot and a half.

Heavy snow currently impacting Oswego county to the Tug Hill will
reach Watertown shortly after midnight, with heavy lake snows
impacting the northern half of Jefferson County after midnight.
Snowfall rates of 2-3"/hr and some lightning strikes are expected.

Moving into Friday,

First off Lake Erie...

A SW flow will direct a singular band of heavy lake effect snow up
Lake Erie and inland across the City of Buffalo...the airport and
out towards Batavia to start the morning. This band will remain
fairly stationary through early afternoon though there could be some
varying persistence to the band, so this will still need to be
monitored. There is now good agreement on a shortwave trough
crossing. Though subtle this will veer winds just enough to push
main focus for the heavy snow band toward the Southtowns with some
improvement from Buffalo to the airport. Some models are quite
aggressive with this southern push. However, local knowledge is once
the band becomes developed, it is very hard to push it too far
south. This will have to be re-evaluated later tonight into Friday
morning though. The strong convergence enhanced by the attempt at
the band drifting south will result in impressive omega values,
along with deep moisture in the snow DGZ and lake induced
equilibrium levels rising to over 20K feet. This as the band of snow
will be oriented along the long axis of the lake will produce very
intense snowfall rates of over 3 inches per hour in the heart of the
band. Eventually the approaching of stronger trough over the western
Great Lakes will back winds enough to push the band back toward
downtown Buffalo and the airport by Friday evening. At this point,
putting in a bit more southward push compared to previous forecast,
the highest totals into Friday evening are expected in a corridor
from South Buffalo to Lancaster. For what it`s worth the snowfall
record Friday for Buffalo is 8.2 inches set back in November
2000...a lake effect snow event that preceded the big November 20-
23rd event that left many stranded and produced the greatest
November daily snowfall of 24.9 inches on the 20th.

Climatologically, the northern flank of this snowband will have a
very tight gradient, while the southern flank will have
accumulations fan out with lesser gradient. This tight gradient
usually occurs when the lake is still warm as it is here with values
in the lower 50s at the top of end of what is typical for mid
November. We attempted to show this gradient more in our snow
forecasts, especially overnight tonight into Friday as the band is
forecast to reach its maturity. Main result was to slightly lower
amounts north of a line from downtown Buffalo to the airport. For
latest forecasted official snow amounts and potential ranges
and probabilities see weather.gov/buf/winter. No change to
keeping the thunder mention given EQLs around 20kft.

The snowband will begin to drift northward Friday night as a
shortwave trough drops towards the western end of Lake Erie. The
backing winds will drive the heart of the snowband up towards
Niagara County, while also brushing by Orleans. No changes in
headlines with bulk of heavy snow for Niagara county occurring
Saturday into Saturday evening. Behind this shortwave winds will
veer, rather quickly and send the plume of lake snow southward
passing Buffalo late Saturday night...and down towards the Buffalo
southtowns and Ski Country by the end of the night. This is a
quicker trend than it looked a couple days ago. This will eventually
result in a shortening of our warning times. We won`t get ahead of
things just yet though.

Behind this deeper trough on Sunday winds will quickly veer to west-
northwesterly. This will drive the lake snows off Lake Erie down
across Ski Country and the Southern Tier. This is a bit faster with
the southward push, leaving the metro Buffalo area with very little
if any snowfall during the day Sunday. It will be chilly and
blustery with highs in the mid to upper 20s, and around 30F near the
Lake shoreline.

Off Lake Ontario...

Friday the lake effect snowband will be established over central and
northern Jefferson County to start the day. The strong convergence
leading to decent omega values, along with deep moisture in the snow
DGZ and lake induced equilibrium levels rising to over 20K feet will
allow this band of snow to continue through the day across Jefferson
County with the snowfall rates exceeding 3 inches per hour. The axis
of greatest snowfall this period will likely be directed at
Watertown and towards Philadelphia. Late Friday into Friday night
still seems to be when highest rates will occur.

Though the snow band will not be oriented along the long axis of
Lake Ontario, an upstream connection to Lake Erie snowband is
remains evident and will enhance the snows over Jefferson County.
Here snowfall totals will also be measured in feet, and warning
continues without any modifications. The snow band initially
clipping southern Lewis with warning amounts this evening will then
eventually clip the northern portion of the county Friday and Friday
night well to the north of Lowville. Certainly a potential for
thunder to occur within the more intense portion of the Lake
snowband as well as the taller lake equilibrium heights and high
delta T`s will create an environment that will allow for charge
separation and lightning to occur.

Ahead of a deeper shortwave trough, winds will back late Friday
night and into Saturday sending the snowband up towards the Saint
Lawrence Valley and maybe for a time completely out of Jefferson
county so have lowered snow amounts during this time. By Saturday
night this upstream connection to Lake Erie will merge back into the
Lake Ontario band, with the snow band structure increasing in
strength...this as it drops southward across Jefferson County and
northern Lewis.

Behind this deeper trough on Sunday winds will quickly veer to west-
northwesterly. This will drive the lake snows off Lake Ontario down
towards Oswego County, where a more impressive band of snow may
develop with an upstream connection to Georgian Bay. Depending upon
if this connection materializes, there could be at least advisory
level snow amounts during the day Sunday to areas southeast of Lake
Ontario. Models continue to trend upward. Will need to watch this as
time goes on. Off Lake Erie, snow amounts will be less. It will be
chilly and blustery with highs in the mid to upper 20s.

Off both Lakes...West winds will begin to increase during the day
Friday. Gusts towards 35 mph near the shoreline will create blowing
snow...that with the heavy snowfall will lower visibilities at times
to just a few hundred feet, especially in the vcnty of the strongest
bands of snow. Travel late tonight and through Friday night will be
very difficult if not impossible.
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Big-time LE event getting ready to start ---- I am wishing all of you up there in the Snow Zone the very best! Stay safe, and enjoy it to the FULL! Maybe the forecasters up there are dead WRONG! Maybe this lake effect event will turn out to be one for the all-time record books and last a couple of weeks!

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Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Buffalo NY
833 PM EST Thu Nov 17 2022

NYZ001-002-010>012-020-021-085-180230-
Cattaraugus NY-Allegany NY-Southern Erie NY-Wyoming NY-Orleans NY-
Genesee NY-Niagara NY-Northern Erie NY-
833 PM EST Thu Nov 17 2022

...AN AREA OF HEAVY SNOW WILL AFFECT MUCH OF THE NIAGARA FRONTIER
THIS EVENING...

HAZARDS...An area of heavy lake effect snow will continue to move
northeast across much of the Niagara Frontier this evening,
including all of the Buffalo Metro area. This initial wide area of
moderate to heavy snow will drop a quick few inches across much of
the area. Following this first burst of snow, a more narrow, focused
band of heavy lake effect snow will develop in the Buffalo Metro
area late this evening.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Niagara Falls, West Seneca, North Tonawanda,
Clarence, Lockport, Lackawanna, Batavia, Kenmore, Depew, Amherst,
Tonawanda, Lancaster, Hamburg, East Aurora, Medina, Albion,
Williamsville and Darien Lakes State Park.

This includes Interstate 90 between exits 48 and 57A.
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