Major lake-effect snow event halting travel around the Great Lakes

With feet of snow piling up east of the Great Lakes into early next week, fans heading to the Sunday night football matchup in Buffalo will have to carefully plan their travel to and from the game.

The first significant lake-effect snow event is now underway across the Great Lakes and interior Northeast, and AccuWeather meteorologists continue to warn of several feet of snow remaining in the forecast.

Through early next week, the frigid flow of air over the warm surfaces of the Great Lakes will produce additional bands of snow along the southern and eastern shorelines, producing treacherous travel conditions across the region.

From Friday to Saturday morning, snowfall reports spanning from northeast Ohio, northwest Pennsylvania into far southwest New York have ranged from 12-24 inches to even approaching 3 feet in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Cassadaga, New York. Numerous road closures continue across portions of I-90 and I-86 in northwestern Pennsylvania.

“As snow squalls continue to impact portions of I-90 in northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania and far southwestern New York through the weekend and into early next week, additional restrictions can occur,” pointed out AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex Duffus.

As holiday shoppers take to the roads at high volumes this weekend, travelers in locations across the Great Lakes are urged to monitor the AccuWeather forecast and stay weather-aware for rapidly-changing conditions.

If motorists become stranded along the I-90 or I-81 corridors, they could quickly find themselves in a life-threatening situation. Frigid conditions and gusty winds could elevate the risk for hypothermia, while times of rapidly reduced visibility in snow squalls can raise the risk for multi-vehicle pileups.

The coldest air of the season so far will continue to plunge southward across the Midwest, Ohio Valley and Northeast into the first week of December. High temperatures are projected to range from the teens across North Dakota and northern Minnesota to the 30s Fahrenheit across southern Illinois, Kentucky into parts of West Virginia on Sunday.

Accompanying the chilly conditions, blustery winds will continue to blow across the region. Some locations across the interior Northeast can observe wind gusts up to 20-30 miles per hour through the weekend.

However, forecasters note that gusts can subside slightly heading into the first few days of the new workweek. Winds on Monday and Tuesday can range anywhere from 5-15 mph lower than this weekend, a noticeable difference in areas with subfreezing temperatures.

Amid the rounds of snow expected through the weekend, the matchup between Buffalo and San Fransisco is still scheduled to kick-off late Sunday at 8:20 p.m. ET, at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, just 10 miles southeast of downtown Buffalo. As past years have proved, it would take more than a snowstorm to daunt the local fans, whether that means they have to shovel out the stadium themselves in order to attend.

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Forecasters say that ahead of the game Sunday evening, a notable burst of snow is projected to impact locations from Erie County, Pennsylvania, into the southwestern New York counties of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Erie, complicating travel plans for fans trying to get to the game.

“A significant lake-effect snow band will be orientated from southwest to northeast, parallel to Lake Erie’s orientation, hugging the southern shoreline from Saturday afternoon through at least Sunday morning. This will result in a period of persistent and heavy snowfall just a matter of miles south of downtown Buffalo and right over the Southtowns, including Orchard Park, where lake-effect squalls can produce rates of 2-4 inches per hour at times,” detailed AccuWeather Meteorologist Grady Gilman.

Gilman added that by the time the sun rises Sunday morning, a foot or more of snow is expected to have fallen in Highmark Stadium. However, the snowfall gradient will be tight across this corridor with only 1-3 inches of snow expected in downtown Buffalo.

The pattern blowing off of Lake Erie will change slightly throughout the daytime on Sunday, but even a minor shift will be notable for the Buffalo area.

“Winds will shift subtlety to blow more out of the west by Sunday afternoon. Though only by a few degrees on the compass, this relatively minor change in wind direction can be just enough to shift the heaviest and most persistent lake-effect snow band to just south of Orchard Park during game time, but snow showers are still expected during the game itself and can bring additional accumulations and even a period of significantly reduced visibility,” warned Gilman.

While the heaviest snow is projected to occur just to the south of downtown Buffalo prior to 8 p.m. Sunday, the risk remains for falling snow to occur during the game with the possibility of several inches of additional accumulations.

“Regardless of exact position and orientation of the lake-effect snow band, travel to and from the stadium can be extremely difficult and dangerous, if not impossible, especially along I-90,” noted Gilman.

On Monday, the brisk and snowy pattern will persist across the eastern and southern shores of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Snow showers, heavy at times, will continue to be the theme across the region and add to the running totals.

High temperatures on Monday will remain in the teens across the Dakotas and northern Minnesota with widespread 30s F from Missouri to northern New England. By Tuesday, widespread 20s and 30s F will be much more common across the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and New England.

The pattern of lake-effect snow showers is set to persist through Tuesday, forecasters say. However, a separate storm is progged to dive southward out of Canada and impact parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast from Tuesday to Thursday and bring an additional wave of snow.

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