Your ISP has a DHCP server. They can assign IPs by modem MAC addresses. When your modem comes online, it communicates to the network indicating it is looking for an IP address. The DHCP server listens to this communication and starts talking to the modem. The modem then transmits its MAC address to the DHCP server.
A storm that has dumped 60 inches of snow on Erie since Sunday night will bring another heavy blast of lake-effect snow to portions of Erie County Tuesday night and Wednesday. The National Weather Service in Cleveland is forecasting possible snow accumulation of an additional 7 inches Tuesday night and into the early morning Wednesday.
Buffalo typically gets 95 inches (240 cm) of snow each winter, and sometimes ten feet (3 m) of snow; the snowiest city is Syracuse, New York, which gets lake effect precipitation from Lake Ontario as well as Lake Erie. A storm around Christmas in 2001 pounded Buffalo with seven feet of snow.