The lake effect snow band got going Wednesday PM and into Thursday AM. Things seemed fine initially. During the day Thursday, especially Thursday Afternoon, Thursday Night and into this morning, the lake effect went to the next level. A level only seen outside of the Tug Hill and areas south of Buffalo on rare occasions. So rare, in fact, this is called A GENERATIONAL EVENT.
The snow continues to come down hard across parts of Upstate NY. In some areas, not as much. Other areas are getting CRUSHED. When was the last time I talked about OVER A FOOT of lake effect snow in the Utica/Rome area in my 13 years here at Upstate Snow? None? Maybe once? When was the last time I talked about 20+ inches of lake effect snow? The last time we saw this much lake effect in populated areas was in February 2007. Before that March 1993. Before that 1977. Before that the Blizzard of ’66. This is the rare air we are in. It may be decades before we see this again.
The snow continues to hit the areas it has hit for the last day. This will add to the totals. Which are already in double digits in many populated areas from north of Syracuse, through the Utica/Rome area, into the Mohawk Valley, and even into the Capital Region. This snow will move south and weaken temporarily by this evening.
Tonight and tomorrow morning, the lake effect is hitting the hardest the Syracuse area, the eastern Southern Tier and into the Catskills. The band should not be as heavy at this point, but it will still be heavy enough to produce several inches of accumulation in areas that have not seen that much snow.
Saturday afternoon and into Saturday night, the snows come back to areas from Syracuse, north, through the Utica/Rome area again, and into the Mohawk Valley towards the Capital Region. Again.
Overnight Saturday and into the early morning hours on Sunday, the snows continue, heavy at times, in the same areas. Again. This means the accumulations will continue to go up. This is why I am thinking, even though there may be a 12-18 hour break in the heavy lake effect snow, and over 4-5 days this is really two rounds of heavy snow, you can see why I am thinking about this on the historical scale.
Snow, heavy at times, continues Sunday morning. If you are planning on heading off to church in the Syracuse area, especially north, Utica/Rome area, or the Mohawk Valley, you may want to reconsider. At least as of right now.
This is at 60 hours, at 1 PM Sunday. And it is STILL showing moderate to heavy lake effect snows coming on down. When is this lake effect storm ever going to end? And if we make the TOP 10 all time snowfalls for Griffiss in Rome, NY, by how much do we do so? And is this 5 day event, with the break in between from later this afternoon/evening through around midday tomorrow, does this generational storm get split in two?
This band of heavy snow will not weaken until sometime during the day on Sunday, when this storm FINALLY will come to an end. After all of this, us Meteorologists don’t get to do 5 day snowfall forecasts. Because they are rare. But as we look at the winter of 2024-25 so far, it has not been what we have expected. We have already seen lake temperatures near record highs for this time of the year, although not as bad recently. Still, the extra heat plus the bitter cold, plus the long term patterns which we have not seen for many years, honestly for most of the time I have been doing Upstate Snow, has been a challenge.
All I can promise you is this: I will do my best from here to update you on everything happening. Please like this post. PLEASE SHARE THIS POST. PLEASE THANK AND PATRONIZE MY SPONSORS. And please give a WARM WELCOME to my newest sponsor GREAT LAKES EQUIPMENT in Ontario, NY! Just east of Rochester they have everything you need to take care of larger properties in Upstate NY. PLEASE give them a like, share and build them up!
Where do we go from here? SEND ME YOUR SNOWFALL MEASUREMENTS SINCE WEDNESDAY. When the snow began. Which is easy. Because when the ball dropped, almost nobody had any snow. Except a few places on Tug Hill and in the Adirondacks. Please, BLOW UP THIS POST! I would appreciate anything you folks can do today.
Zack and Rich Lupia
Upstate Snow
January 3, 2025
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