A woman clears her car off during thefirst snowstorm of the year in 2006 which dropped nearly 2 feet of snow aroundBuffalo (AP Photo/David Duprey)An unusually cold air mass for this early in the season crossed still warmLake Erie on Oct. 12-13, 2006, creating a small-scale, but impressive,lake-effect snowfall event that was unprecedented in the Buffalo, N.Y., area.The weight of snow caused the worst tree damage in memory across the region,especially in many historic parks in Buffalo. The trees were still bearingleaves because it was so early in the season, so widespread tree limbs andtrees came crashing down with the added weight of snow. Almost a millionresidents lost power. Some people had to sit in the dark for as long as a week.
The water of Lake Erie was a mild 62 degrees, 3 degrees above normal forOct. 12. As the cold air mass moved over the warm water, lake-effect snow bandsset up around the Buffalo area. The heavy bands sat over the region through theday into the night and the next morning, dumping feet instead of inches ofsnow!
This image shows how lake-effect snow develops as coldair crosses relatively warm water in a lake. The water warms the air andcreates instability and rising motion of the air, which is often enhanced bythe upward slope of lake shores. The rising motion causes clouds to form andsnow to fall.After the snow ended the morning of the 13th, the snowfall tally at theBuffalo Airport was 22.6 inches. That amount of snow easily surpassed theprevious all-time October record of 6 inches, set back in 1909! It even wentdown in history as the seventh-greatest snowfall total ever in Buffalo. Othersnowfall totals included: 24 inches at Depew and Alden, up to 22 inches inAmherst, 15 inches in downtown Buffalo and 14 inches in West Seneca.Story by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Meghan Evans.
