comment: >
  
  Blizzards are actually pretty rare in Buffalo.
  Snow is actually easily dealt with and it actually doesn’t get much colder than the rest of the Northeast.
  Actually it’s a pretty cool city. Lots of historic walkable neighborhoods, museums, random presidential history and cool industrial areas that have been turned into lofts, breweries and art spaces.
context: Biggest issue this time are the combination of heavy snow and heavy winds, up to 75mph gusts in some cases. Near zero visibility and widespread power outages in sub freezing weather, along with gigantic snow drifts. >
  
  The winds were no joke. The gusts were so strong, you could feel the whole apartment building shake, and it cracked one of my windows. >
  
  Those winds were making me so nervous.   My house is so old and the creaking and twisting was freaking me out.   My lights kept dimming with each big gust.  I dont know what i would have done if i lost power.. or a window broke out >
  
  Time to put an emergency plan and bug out bag together.
  Edit - some one messaged me and said you can’t bug out in a blizzard. 
  To clarify, you can. 
  You don’t need to wait til your door has 4ft of snow and you lost power.  Think of an extraction plan to a neighbor or local community shelter and have the proper equipment ready for that action.  
  Anecdotally you could pack -
  Snow shoes/gaiters 
  Hand warmers
  Mylar blankets 
  Down jackets, pants, bootys, mittens, sleeping bags
  At least 5 gal jug of water - even better to fill a tub before the storm. 
  Gas stove such as propane or a backpacking liquid fuel stove that are cheap and can easily melt snow or cook food. 
  Radios
  Pre-cook meals that are easy reheat or don’t need reheated at all. 
  Or be prepared to shelter in place with emergency supplies. Not every emergency/bug out plan involves being Jason Bourne.
  You could have plywood or heavy plastic for broken windows. Nails and hammer, screw gun and screws, and a can of expanding foam insulation will go a long way.  Just think practically. >
  
  Hi. I live at the epicenter of this and I don't think you understand what snow combined with 50-70mph sustained winds for 2 days actually ia. There is no extraction. Ask the woman who manually ventilated her child for 2 days so he didn't die, while the whole city knew where she was....We have tons of warming shelters. People couldn't get the 200' from their homes to them. Bugging out in a blizzard has got to be the worst thing you could do. >
  
  Hi. I’m a mountaineer that skis in backcountry.  I know exactly what those situations are like.   2 days isn’t bad compared to some storms on the mountain that could last a week or more where you literally survive in a snow cave.  That’s why I said to shelter in place or relocate to safety before the conditions get bad.  I would never recommend some one to leave their house in those conditions. It’s pretty much a death sentence. 
  What I am saying is, just think ahead a little bit and prepare yourself using common sense contingency plans for the type of situation you are most likely to find yourself in. In reality, you can’t be prepared for every single emergency, you can just shift the odds of survival in your favor.   
  A simple candle paired using convection heat can provide a huge amount of heat in a 10x10 space, etc.   It’s just the simple things that can be life saving.
  Edit - mountains are playgrounds for near death experiences. Take what I say with a grain of salt. >
  
  If your only experience with blizzards is on a mountain you should just stop talking and giving people terrible advice. Do not bug out. Do not create a go bag. Sit there and wait for the sun or your death. They built their coffin now let them lay in it. >
  
  Haha, they said shelter in place. Did you read the comment? 
  I can't think of a situation where planning a bag of survival equipment would be a bad thing unless the only thing in there is an AR15 >
  
  You don’t know shit about ar15s >
  
  Lolol 
  Raos163: airdrop me naked with an AR15 into -20 degree weather and 70 mph wind. I GOT THIS!!!
  YoU DoNt KnOw sHiT aBoUT Ar15s!! >
  
  as always Buffalo, we in Toronto appreciate your sacrifice to the lake effect gods. stay safe and merry christmas. >
  
  What exactly is “lake effect”? >
  
  Warm(er) water evaporates and condenses rapidly and just unleashes snow.  It takes longer for the big bodies of water to freeze.  Once frozen over, no lake effect. >
  
  I think it’s extremely rare for any of the Great Lakes to freeze over completely. >
  
  Happens every few years for Erie and Ontario. Getting more rare though.
  There’s some pretty gnarly accounts of adventurers crossing Lake Erie into Canada as a challenge. >
  
  Some folks I went to law school with at SUNY Buffalo tried it and made it almost to the other shore when the ice gave out.  Erie flows into the Niagara River which goes over the falls so there’s a current. >
  
  That's outrageously dangerous. People die every year attempting exactly this. >
  
  They had to wait for the lake to thaw and they needed dental records to identify them.  They were clueless kids from downstate who really didn’t know what they were doing. >
  
  Used to hear about people trying to get across on their snow mobile and falling through. >
  
  Waaaaaaaaaay worse than the last snow storm in November.
  In addition to the snow, this was the equivalent of Cat 1 winds bringing full whiteout conditions for 36+ hours.
  It takes a hell of a lot for a storm to become the blizzard of record in Buffalo, and this was it. 
  It could go down as one of the worst non-flood weather events to hit any U.S. city. >
  
  At least until next year, or maybe next month. >
  
  Woot! Climate change breaking records! >
  
  Once in a lifetime!*
  *so far >
  
  Buffalo got hit about a month ago with a similar mega snowstorm, which dropped another four feet plus. >
  
  That does not remotely compare to this. I had to shovel my way out my front door to be able to get to my back door to use the snow blower. Multiple people have power outages. November was just heavy snow and lots of shoveling. This was heavy winds, cold, plus snow that could not be dealt with due to zero visibility and heavy winds. >
  
  Depends where you were in WNY. Hamburg and Orchard Park each got eight feet of snow in some places in the previous storm. Several businesses got destroyed when roofs caved in. The Bills had to play in Detroit twice in two weeks. The first time they somehow officially were the home team.
  This one is bad and stuff as well. But lets not say that because you were lucky previously that the previous storm wasn't bad either. As it was pretty fucking bad for a lot of people.
  I'm just fucking cold. The power blinked off for ten minutes last night. We decided to wait at least a half hour before we would resort to cannibalism. The power then came back on and I had to put the barbecue sauce away. >
  
  I’m sorry you didn’t get to eat anyone this time :/ >
  
  *this time...winter is still young >
  
  different kinda’ ’think of the children’ >
  
  That’s almost one Scaramoochi deep >
  
  4 dead.  My sincere sympathies to their families.  A death at any time is devastating, but during the Holidays it must be even more so. >
  
  I take it back.... dreams of a white christmas are over rated. >
  
  The bright side being I don’t have to host any in-laws this Christmas. >
  
  Is the tradeoff you have to shovel the roof off?
  Not sure thats a win >
  
  No, my roof is sloped. Everyone in my neighborhood has houses that are made for long winters. I don’t know where folks with ground level or snow level exhausts live, or I’d be digging them out. >
  
  My roof is sloped too. Still need to shovel it off after a big snowstorm. It's why they have roof rakes. >
  
  4ft sounds kinda light for Buffalo >
  
  wind was the issue, not the snow directly. imagine a hurricane, but with snow instead of water (except the lake front which got both flooding and snow). sustained 60-70mph winds plus four feet of snow and drifts much higher than that. massive power outages and heat loss, property damage, seven people already found dead from freezing to death on the street or in cars. no plowing for 36hrs because it was too windy for the plows, limited plowing now because there’s stuck cars and drifts too big for the plows to move. less snow, but way more widespread and serious distraction than our november storm where we got 6ft >
  
  The NYS Thruway is also completely closed from Rochester all the way to the NY/PA state line. >
  
  I live in downtown Buffalo, I went snowshoeing down the streets and walked up snowdrifts 7ft high. Even walked over cars at time not realizing I was on them. It'll be a week before we unbury >
  
  Toronto here, we were supposed to get a bunch of snow...guess buffalo wanted it more >
  
  You're welcome to come get it. There's a pile 6 feet high blocking my garage. >
  
  Biggest issue in my part of buffalo was the drifts. Anything that the snow could build up on had 4+ feet and it was dense snow. My door and garage had 3-4 feet and it was solid. Bottom of driveway had a foot and it was fluffy. >
  
  Garages at my apartment in Willamsville had almost 6 feet drifted in front of them. I was standing on top of the base level of snow in my parking lot and my feet were at roof level of some of the cars. >
  
  Ah, the old Calcutta Clipper >
  
  It’s still coming down, Isn’t it? >
  
  depends on where you are.  The snow band sat over the city and north for almost 2 days, and shifted south last night. anyone south of buffalo is getting hit now.
  i just dug out of two feet of the stuff, and I'll have to go back out later. >
  
  Been without power now for 47 hours here 🙃 >
  
  Last report I read was that there was significant damage to several substations that they could not even begin to address because they could not physically reach them. As I understand it they're digging them out now, repairs to follow. >
  
  I haven't left my apartment in 3 days, they finally got the roads plowed but I had to make the 250 foot trek across the parking lot to my brother's truck a couple hours ago so I could see the family for Christmas because my car isn't moving for at least a week, or whenever the useless landlord gets a plow to come in. It's pretty fun now that the weather's cleared. Get to see the dozens of semis that got stuck directly in the middle of the road and whatnot. >
  
  People don't seem to realize that cold kills far more people a year than heat. >
  
  Damn, again? Didn't buffalo just get 5 feet a week or two ago?! >
  
  Yes we did but that wasn’t as bad as this plus it was only south Buffalo that got hit really hard then >
  
  No power for 18 out of 48 hours.I was in the center of the worst of it for two full days. >
  
  It’s gonna be 40F there in a few days- are they going to have flooding issues? >
  
  Despite the snow and driving ban, hundreds of people are stranded or abandoned their vehicles. 
  Cleanup will take days now because of the obstructions. >
  
  Lake effect is crazy. I live in Rochester, not far away, and we just have a dusting of snow. I can still see the grass >
  
  The funny thing is that the wind was so bad here that I have areas of my backyard and driveway with no snow, and an 8 foot snowdrift next to it. >
  
  Why is there no snow on the roof?
  Some kind of heating system? >
  
  Wind, all the snow is being piled between buildings and next to cars. >
  
  I thought it was literal Buffalo >
  
  Me too, came for pictures of buffalo covered in snow. >
  
  I live in buffalo and am going out to shovel a bit soon >
  
  Damn, maybe I should stop complaining about a low of 42 in Northern California… >
  
  So serious question. Why the fuck do people like to live there?