Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Barring a surprise flurry at the Buffalo Airport on Friday, it appears this season will go down as the latest Buffalo has gone into a winter season without seeing a snowflake.
"We've made it to Friday, Nov. 22," Meteorologist Andy Parker told WBEN on Friday.
That date ties the record for the latest we have ever received our first snowflake.
"A lot of spots in the Southtowns and the hills of the Southern Tier have already seen the white stuff, but the official measurement is taken at the airport," he said.
It has only happened twice before. In 1946 and 1985, the first flake fell on Nov. 22.
"If we can make it through the rest of today, we'll be in record territory," noted Parker. "And there's actually a shot that we may get into next week before we see that first flake."
That would be a significant milestone, considering more than 100 years of record keeping.
Parker is tracking some potentially active weather for Thanksgiving week.
"It does not look like a big storm, but it's going to be an interesting week," he said. "It starts off mild on Monday and Tuesday. Then it changes rapidly. It will get colder with temperatures in the 30s on Thanksgiving. All of the computer models are coming together with the first real cold surge coming late next weekend. That's when the lake effect candle may be lit."
That also happens to be when the Bills host the San Francisco 49ers on "Sunday Night Football" in Orchard Park.
"That could be a very interesting snow game, as many people saw on "Thursday Night Football" between Pittsburgh [Steelers] and Cleveland [Browns]," Parker said. "When the lake gets involved, it becomes the 13th man."
Speaking of that, Lake Erie is at 52 degrees and wide-open. It only takes a 17-degree difference between the lake surface water and the air about a mile above it, to get the lake effect cranking.