Kristalderp t1_j1vo78d wrote
For people who don't understand how bad this storm was: Buffalo receives on average 96.4" of snow total for the winter season.
This weekend alone Buffalo got 94".
We all knew the storm was gonna be bad, and change (especially when it tracked up to Canada, where im at) But this storm rapidly changed from "wow it's heckin windy" to "I can't see 1ft from my face, it dropped from 38f to sub-zero in under 4 hours, the snow wont stop AND it's STILL WINDY--THERE GOES MY ROOF SHINGLES" all within friday. I was watching a storm chaser on Friday over in Fort Erie and he said it was horrible, dangerous and in some areas the snow was blowing and accumulating so fast, some snow drifts were +6ft tall in just 4 hours. It's mindboggling.
Sadly, the more they dig, the more bodies they're gonna find, as well as doing neighbourhood safety checks on the elderly. They usually die first in storms like this due to no power, no heat, and nobody checking on them. So they die to the cold or C02 poisoning because they can't clear their furnace piping, bad fireplaces, bad ventilation on generators...etc.
If you got elderly neighbors or family and you got a heat source/power; help them.
ManiacalShen t1_j1vqky0 wrote
>But this storm rapidly changed from "wow it's heckin windy" to "I can't see 1ft from my face, it dropped from 38f to sub-zero in under 4 hours, the snow wont stop AND it's STILL WINDY--THERE GOES MY ROOF SHINGLES" all within friday.
That sounds like The Children's Blizzard, which killed over 200 people in 1888. Mostly kids walking home from school, but also some people whose shelters couldn't withstand the winds and who ran out of things to burn, if they could start a fire at all. There's a good book about it, but the point is it got so bad, so fast, people got lost five yards outside their own front doors.
I don't think anyone is really ready for a storm like that. I wouldn't be.
Kristalderp t1_j1vtedn wrote
With our current weather forcasts we knew it was gonna be a nasty snow storm due to the lake effect (I'm in Montreal. More north-east. We got freezing rain and then snow after and didn't get the lake effect whiteouts) but it turned from a "this is a big blizzard" to "oh fuck this is real" when the wind kicked up.
I'm just thankful I have a fireplace in case I ever do lose power so I could stay warm and cook. My family learned after we dealt with the 1998 ice storm here in Montreal. It crippled our power grid and we were out of power for 3+ weeks.
Now we refuse to buy a home without a wood burning fireplace/stove as we don't wanna freeze like that again.
imr1der t1_j1w8saj wrote
No, we did not get 94 inches this weekend. The seasonal total reached that amount, which is a lot of snow. Big difference, though!
Kristalderp t1_j1wc0ic wrote
I stand corrected, it's 92 inches. But still a massive amount of snow! https://twitter.com/NWSBUFFALO/status/1607150199536771074
JollyRancher29 t1_j1wqem8 wrote
You’re still wrong. That’s 92” THIS WINTER. Buffalo also had 40ish inches on November 19, though it wasn’t as cold and windy. They got roughly 50” this weekend.
imr1der t1_j1yrydv wrote
we really don't need to exaggerate...
Capt_Blackmoore t1_j1w6qb7 wrote
four day snowfall at Buff airport is showing 51.5 inches.
Still an obscene amount of snow for the amount of time.
TechyDad t1_j1wa7ob wrote
>" to "I can't see 1ft from my face,
From what I've heard, this proved deadly for a few people. They went out to shovel, got turned around, and literally couldn't see where their house was. They died from the cold because they literally couldn't see where their house was. They could have been 5 feet away - a couple seconds walk - from safety, but they couldn't tell which way to go.
imsabbath84 t1_j1vsy9u wrote
yeah the extremely fast change in weather is what got most people caught in it. I started work at 6am that day, it was around a nice 40 degrees and raining. By the time it hit 9am, the temp was down to 20 and snowing pretty hard. Wind hadnt gotten crazy yet, but by 10:30am, it got insane.
ChaluppaBatmanJr t1_j1wunry wrote
I thought they had a no travel/driving ban? I understand that a woman died on her way to grocery store?
Kristalderp t1_j1wvgtc wrote
People will go out for their jobs and to the store as they think it's "not that bad" but it is. And it got worse.
Happens with floods, hurricanes...it's sad 😔 with snowstorms like this it's worse as no plows= walls of snow blowing about and nobody can move. So people are trapped in their cars in subzero temperatures and keep the car on to stay warm...but die due to carbon monoxide poisoning as they don't clear the tailpipe of the snow. Lots of people trapped in their cars died this way.
ButterflyAttack t1_j1xxis8 wrote
For those of us who are only familiar with Celsius, I've just checked and that is absolutely fucking freezing. Wind chill must be crazy. Wouldn't take someone long to die outside in those conditions. Hope you guys can stay safe and warm.
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