Already buried under snow, Great Lakes region expected to see more stormy weather this week
Snow continued to fall Monday around parts of the Great Lakes region, where storm-weary residents who have plowed and shoveled for days faced the prospect of even greater accumulations.
Lake-effect snow continued to fall on parts of western New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio that were already blanketed with a foot or more over the past four days. By Monday morning, the village of Cassadaga, N.Y., east of Lake Erie, recorded 4.5 feet of snow. Snow was expected to continue through Tuesday in that largely rural area south of Buffalo.
But the snow didn't stop Sunday’s NFL game in Buffalo, where the Bills took the win in a frigid nighttime game against the San Francisco 49ers.
In Ohio, the quaint village of Geneva-on-the-Lake had more than 4 feet of snow, and more is in the forecast through the rest week, according to the National Weather Service.
“At this point, it’s just annoying,” said Ryan Colby, who lives a snowball’s toss from Lake Erie in the Ohio village. “We’ve just been getting hit left and right with it. I’ve been getting up every couple hours and shoveling out the driveway and the porch just so we don’t get too, too buried again.”
Lake-effect snow warnings were in effect through Tuesday night in parts of Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.
Winter storm warnings or advisories also were posted through Tuesday in Michigan, up and down the Lake Michigan coast, where as much as a foot of snow was predicted. Farther inland, some communities canceled school, including Gaylord, where more than 3 feet of snow has fallen since Thanksgiving.
“Last year at this time we still had green grass,” said Mike Williams, who has a snow removal business in Gaylord. “To get it all at once overwhelmed everyone.”
Skies were clear east of Lake Ontario in northern New York, where some residents were still digging out from mountains of snow.
“We’ve got snow banks that are higher than me,” said Mary Shambo, owner of the Cottage Inn in Copenhagen, N.Y. The small village received just under 6 feet of snow in four days.
Shambo and her husband, Ben, managed to stay open through the thick of the storm. Some locals arrived by snowmobile, but they mostly served truckers who pulled off the road when bands of snow became particularly fierce.
“It goes from whiteout conditions to clear,” she said, “so they would take off when it was clear and hope to God they got to where they needed to go.”
In Ohio, the mayor of Geneva-on-the-Lake has been using a backhoe almost nonstop since Thursday to clear the snow.
“Every business down here has been shut down the last four days,” Mayor Dwayne Bennett said. “You can’t even get in the front doors.”
“The problem is we’re not equipped to handle this much snow in this amount of time,” he added.
Officials faced similar problems in snow-bound Erie, Pennsylvania, where 3 to 4 feet of snow fell since Thursday, and accumulations on the ground were particularly wet and heavy.
“Every shovel is like 30 pounds, and there’s not a lot of space to put that snow once it’s been piling up for days and days,” said Sarah Morrison with the Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Up to 17 inches of snow fell in Alaska’s capital city of Juneau over the weekend as part of a system that was “definitely stronger” than what the region typically experiences this time of year, National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Spann said.
Snow had transitioned to freezing rain early Monday, he said, with roads icy in some areas. Wet, heavy snow was piled on sidewalks along typically busy streets near downtown Juneau, and slushy pools were forming at some intersections. School went to remote learning in the city on Monday, and state offices were closed due to freezing rain. Ice encased the thin branches on some trees.
The rest of Juneau’s week is expected to be very different, with forecasts calling for rain and unusually warm temperatures in the 40s.
