All Aboard the Crazy (Lake-Effect Snow) Train!
UPDATE 12/14/2013: A 66" amount has been confirmed by the OWLES program in Constableville, NY!
UPDATE 12/12/2013: The top snow amounts are now as follows:
- Constableville & Redfield, NY: 44" (blog & photos )
Colden, NY: 34.2"
ORIGINAL BLOG:
"All aboard! Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!"-- Ozzy Ozbourne, "Crazy Train"
The lake-effect snow machine is cranking out some incredible amounts for New York state during the first 24 hours of a major outbreak:
Lacona, N.Y.: 28.0"
Constableville, N.Y.: 25.0"
Redfield, N.Y.: 24.5"
We issued a map yesterday showing a maximum local amount of 36 inches (3 feet) - and we've raised it to 48 inches (4 feet) today! Here's what the Buffalo, N.Y., radar looks like this morning, in 3D:
The orange specks are wind turbine farms that the radar picks up (because they are "moving" the radar can't ignore them) and the green line is the lake-effect snow band. The missing (black) pixels represent ground clutter (probably buildings) that was automatically removed by the radar's algorithms.
You can see lake-effect webcam images on this page, including this one from Constableville, N.Y., (yes, that's the 3-foot mark about to disappear):
The snow is strong enough to cause thunderstorms - in fact the only thunderstorms in the nation today. SPC has tagged the Oswego area in their outlook. Here's our forecast map and a link to our story explaining the meteorology behind these blockbuster snow totals:
