Two Feet Of Snow In Buffalo

At least two feet of snow blanketed parts of the Buffalo area early Friday morning in the season's first snowfall in western New York, signaling a possible second record-setting day, and leaving more than 220,000 customers without electricity.

Iowa, Wisconsin and North Dakota got hit earlier in the week as winter made its first early inroads, and Detroit – site of Friday's American League Championship Series game between the Tigers and the A's – may be next.

Temperatures there aren't expected to rise past the mid-40s and, hoping to beat the snow, Major League Baseball moved the game time for Friday ahead by four hours, to 4:30 p.m.

Friday's hearty helping of Buffalo snow was day two for the Great Lakes city, which on Thursday recorded 8.3 inches of the same, setting a record for the "snowiest" October day in Buffalo in the 137 year history of the weather service. The previous record of 6 inches was set Oct. 31, 1917.

Niziol said the northern half of Erie County and southern portions of Niagara and Orleans Counties were among the hardest hit areas.

"This is an extremely rare event for this early in the season," Niziol said.

The Buffalo Police Department received more than 3,000 calls late Thursday and about two-thirds were related to the weather, Lt. James Watkins said.

"There are power lines going down all over the place," he said.

National Grid was working into the night to restore power to the customers left in the dark, but many were expected to be without power through the weekend and into next week, spokesman Steve Brady said.

"It's still snowing," Brady said. "This is extremely heavy snow and most of the trees still have most of their leaves ... we can't do a complete damage assessment until the snow stops falling."

The company had more than 50 crews working on the damage and was expecting 100 more crews to arrive from other areas to help later in the evening and the next day.

Central Buffalo and Tonawanda also experienced heavy snowfall. Officials in Amherst ordered a driving ban for the entire town.

"We have a condition where 80 percent of the roads are impassable," said Lt. Stephen McGonagle of the Amherst Police Department.

Buffalo schools were to be closed Friday.

Airport officials said that they had experienced some flight delays and cancellations related to the snow. The airport closed down for less than two hours late Thursday.

Tree branches were strewn across the roads around Buffalo and other areas affected by heavy snowfall. A large box maple tree split in half, falling on Joan Casey's midtown Buffalo home and then landing on her second story deck.

"The whole house shook," Casey said. "We were very afraid. Originally I thought it was just the thunder, and then I came outside and I couldn't believe it."

Buffalo resident Denise Hanlon was also shocked by the heavy snowfall, which was accompanied by lighting and loud thunder claps.

"It was unbelievable" to see snow so early, she said. "And the thunder. It was so bizarre. It was just amazing."