West Seneca, N.Y. (WBEN) - A pair of lake effect snowstorms hammered a large portion of Western New York back-to-back, dumping a significant amount of snow in parts of the region. The first storm rolled through starting Saturday and into Monday, followed by another system striking late Tuesday night and into Thursday evening.
However, the one location considered to be the "epicenter" of both lake effect events is the Town of West Seneca. Town Supervisor Gary Dickson says as of Wednesday night, he had a total of 65 inches of snow in his yard, but expected those totals to continue to rise over the course of Thursday.
When all was said and done on Friday, the final snow measurement in West Seneca topped everywhere else in Western New York with 80.4 inches of snow falling between Saturday and Thursday.
While the snow totals may have been a bit unexpected, especially when as much as three feet of snow fell late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, Dickson says the town continued to roll with the punches.
"We've got a very, very experienced and capable highway department, who works very well with our emergency manager and with the police department and the fire companies to make sure things get handled to keep everybody safe," said Dickson in an interview with WBEN.
Even for residents of West Seneca, the nature of the back-to-back storms caught many of them off guard.
"It seems like this thing parked over the top of us and never moved," said John, who was snowblowing his driveway on Thursday.
"I've been in a lot of storms. I've been in the Blizzard of '77, and back then, I worked at Buffalo China and I was stuck there for three days. This one's totally different," added Scott Burt from his home on Thursday. "I'm home, I gotta get back out. I've got to shovel or snowblow, especially for my dog, so I'm going in-and-out, in-and-out, in-and-out."
Burt joked by saying the cleanup efforts for this storm was as if he was on one of the "Sock it to me! Sock it to me! Sock it to me!" segments of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In". He also compared the constant cleanup to the movie Groundhog Day, where you wake up and do the same thing over-and-over again.
"I've been out every single day, each time that I'm plowing it's probably about two feet of snow," Burt said. "It's not bad, but when you get to the apron or curtain sometimes when a town truck goes down, they leave a little bit of junk there. That stuff's really harder to get out."
John says he's been out to blow out his driveway, at least, a dozen times since the snow started falling in West Seneca on Saturday. He agrees with the estimates of more than six feet of snow falling in the town between the two systems.
With the timing of these two lake effect snow systems, as well as the ferocity of the snowfall, residents like Burt have their concerns with how future storms can affect Western New York down the road.
"I just don't like it. I don't even know what day it is, with the Bills being rescheduled and everything. I'm just confused," Burt said. "This is the most I've ever had, and I'm worried more tomorrow, because I've still gotta clear out a porch that's off my bedroom that's 10x30 feet. I've got to clear out my patio, and then my roof. What's going to happen 10 days from now when the snow gets heavier."
However, some residents like John seem to take no issue to the snowfall impacting the area. It's nothing that's too far out of the ordinary.
"I think it's Buffalo, New York. That happens, but it's similar to the other storm," he said.
While the snow continued to fall in West Seneca on Thursday, Dickson feels the town's response to the storm has been a good one.
"Nobody can really deal with snow if it's falling with four inches, five inches, six inches, even an hour. We do our best, and then when the snow lets up, we finish off. Taking that into consideration, I think we did quite well," Dickson said. "I know our highway guys worked very, very, very long hours. I'm not aware of any serious accidents that happened in town, I think the public played their part by adhering to the driving ban, and just hunkering down and letting the professionals do their jobs."
And residents will agree with Dickson, feeling the response to snow cleanup as the storm continued has helped keep traffic through town open and flowing.
"The town has done a good job with what they've been dealt, so I think they're doing fine," John said.
For Burt, even living down a dead end street, he's noticed the plows coming down his road enough to get residents out.
"I've been out a couple of days, - not during the travel ban - but I've been able to get out, we went to a restaurant, Connor's, a couple days ago just mingle with people and not go nuts in the house all the time," Burt said with a laugh.
And the response from the community has been a positive one, with neighbor helping neighbor and spreading the "City of Good Neighbors" vibes across the town.
"We've got a good street here. Everybody's helping everybody on our street," Burt said. "We've got a guy that lives next door, he's 85-years-old, but he's out there snow blowing all the time. You don't realize it, but you really got to be careful. My wife, Denise, has helped me, so we'll go out there for a half hour, hour, we'll come back in, then go out again. And we got to make sure I get the dog out, too."
Dickson says there were a couple of key lessons learned from last year's Christmas Weekend blizzard and "Snowvember 2.0" storm that have greatly assisted in the town's response to the lake effect snowstorms this time around.
The first upgrade in West Seneca that has proven to be helpful with this storm has been the use of new tracks for one of the police vehicles on-hand.
"They take the tires off and they put four tracks on, and it's awesome. We can go anywhere," Dickson said. "That was like $15,000, and well worth it. That was something we did as a direct result of last year."
In addition, Dickson says the town is in the finishing stages of turning the West Seneca Senior Center on Seneca Street into the community's own warming center.
"We're in the process of turning our Senior Center into our own warming center that we can open, we can staff, we can close whenever we need to," Dickson explained. "This takes the load off the fire companies, which during that storm a year ago, housed a fair number of people, because the Red Cross did not open the official shelter in town."
As of Thursday, Dickson said all residential streets in West Seneca should be passable by, at least, one lane. Despite the snow still falling Thursday, he said the focus of crews, with some help from private companies, was widening the streets as much as possible, curb-to-curb.
The big issue for Dickson is the roads the town doesn't control, including Union Road, Orchard Park Road and Seneca Street.
"The people that live on Union Road, they've got two-and-a-half lanes of packed snow in their driveways, on their sidewalks. It makes it very challenging," Dickson said. "The State's not responsible for removing the drift in front of your driveway, and it can be quite challenging for just the normal plow guy, who only has a blade on the front of his truck. Sometimes that's not enough."
When it comes to snow removal, Dickson says a majority of the snow will remain on site and pushed off to the side somewhere by plows and other crews working to clear as much snow as possible. He does say, however, the town has property it could pile snow up, if needed.
However, there is one concern already on Dickson's mind as we head into the early stages of next week: Warming temperatures creating flooding, and even the potential for ice jamming concerns.
"We have already started talking about what is the depth of the ice? How thick is the ice, especially Buffalo Creek? How much of a danger does that pose? It's absolutely something that we think about all the time. We know about it, we're planning for it," Dickson said. "Knock on wood, we're hoping if the ice isn't too thick, it's just going to break up and just flow. As long as it just flows, it's fine. It's the ice jams that's the problem. It's absolutely something we are well aware of and are thinking about."
In the meantime, what's Dickson's message for residents as the town continues to clear snow from roadways and other problem areas? He's asking people to continue to remain patient.
"Our guys are working very, very hard. Your street is going to be widened, curb-to-curb, but we have to be realistic about what's possible. But it will get done," he said. "We're hiring outside contractors with high lifts, and by the middle of next week, the end of next week, if it goes up to 40 [degrees], this could all just be a memory that you're going to tell your grandkids about. 'Where were you in the 2024 storm?' So be patient, and I think the vast majority of our residents are patient. They understand that these things take time. We have an excellent crew in town, and they'll do a good job."
