Listen, you may have had a bad week, but at least you don’t live in Buffalo (and if you do live in Western Upstate New York, we feel for you!). More than 70” of snow has fallen in some areas of the region (that’s over six feet for those of you not willing to do the math), leaving a region paralyzed in deep snow drifts and buried homes.
The Buffalo region is no stranger to snow, as it’s routinely subjected to lake-effect snow, a weather phenomenon in which large bands of snow form over Lake Erie and blow into the city and its surrounding suburbs. But, this is a historic amount of snow for the time of year and for the speed in which it fell — all of it dropped in only two days. Businesses were shut down, schools were closed, and travel was banned as road crews, the National Guard, and state lawmakers rushed to start clearing the mess.
To get an idea of how serious the snowfall was, the Buffalo Bills had to reschedule their game with the Jets from Sunday to Monday…and they moved it to Detroit. The players were reportedly getting rides to the airport via snowmobile, as roads were still closed or impassable. That’s right, an NFL team from upstate New York and used to playing in bitter wintry conditions, was forced to cancel and reschedule a home game because there’s too much snow in the stadium…and the game is still days away. In fact, there’s talk about the Bills needing to relocate next week’s game as the stadium still might not be cleared by then.
Sadly, the heavy snow has taken the lives of 13 people and injured even more. Scores of people are still unable to leave their homes. And it’s only the beginning of winter.
Buffalo, our prayers are with you!
