Buffalo Lake-Effect Snowstorm of November 2014: Photos and Snow Totals

In mid-November 2014, a narrow band of lake-effect snow parked itself over the southern suburbs of Buffalo, New York, and refused to move. In about 48 hours, South Cheektowaga measured 65 inches of snow, while the city's airport, only a few miles north, recorded just over six inches.

The lake-effect band that buried South Buffalo

According to the National Weather Service office in Buffalo, the first episode ran from 17 to 19 November. The Lake Erie band was 15 to 20 miles wide and stretched from Lackawanna and Hamburg east-northeast through West Seneca, Lancaster and Alden. Along its northern edge, snow fell at more than three inches an hour, at times close to six. People who watched it arrive called it a "wall of snow", and the aerial photographs below show exactly that: a sharp cloud boundary with clear sky on one side.

The official totals show how concentrated the snow was:

• South Cheektowaga: 65 inches
• Lancaster: 63 inches
• Gardenville: 60 inches
• West Seneca: 57 inches
• Elma: 51 inches
• Hamburg: 48 inches
• Buffalo Niagara International Airport: 6.2 inches

A second lake-effect episode followed on 19 and 20 November. Across the two events, the heaviest totals reached close to seven feet. East of Lake Ontario, a separate band brought 22 inches to Philadelphia, New York, with gusts up to 55 mph at Watertown.

How lake-effect snow forms

Lake-effect snow develops when very cold air crosses a lake that is still relatively warm. In November, Lake Erie had not yet cooled from summer, so the arctic air flowing over it picked up heat and moisture, rose and dropped that moisture as snow once it reached land. When the wind direction holds steady, the band stays over the same communities for hours or days.

The Buffalo forecasters described the November 2014 setup as possibly unprecedented in 30 years of local records. Upper-air temperatures above the city fell to about −42 °C at the 500 mb level, and the snow clouds grew to around 20,000 feet, unusually tall for lake-effect convection. The office issued a lake-effect watch 56 hours ahead and a warning 32 hours ahead. The closest historical match was December 1945, when the airport measured nearly 37 inches and Lancaster topped 70.

Photographs from the storm

Residents, reporters and officials shared these images on Twitter as the snow piled up. They move from the advancing cloud wall to buried houses, stranded vehicles and people digging out.

Roads, roofs and a relocated NFL game

The New York State Thruway closed from the Pennsylvania border to Rochester, along with Interstates 190 and 290 and Route 400. Thousands of motorists were stranded, and impassable roads led to local food and fuel shortages. The NWS counted hundreds of major roof collapses and structural failures, and 13 deaths were linked to the storm.

New York State sent hundreds of plows, loaders and snow blowers to the region, as one of the photographs from the governor's account records. The snow also reached the sports pages: the Buffalo Bills' home game against the New York Jets was moved to Ford Field in Detroit and played on Monday night, as NPR reported.

Keep furnace and dryer vents clear when snow piles this high, and leave roof clearing to professionals: several feet of settled snow adds a heavy load, which is why so many roofs failed in the days after the storm.

Related reading

• More lake-effect snow photos from the Northeast
• The Buffalo snow fridge
• The January 2014 East Coast Snowstorm: Streets, Transport and Winter Scenes
• The January 2014 US Cold Outbreak: Forecasts, Observations and Winter Impacts
• Casey Neistat Snowboards Through New York City
• Ten Frozen Fountains: Ice Patterns and Winter City Scenes

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