Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - During a press briefing on Thursday ahead of the Christmas weekend blizzard forecasted to hit Western New York, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has declared a State of Emergency for the county starting at 7 a.m. EST Friday morning.
According to the National Weather Service, a Blizzard Warning is in effect for Erie, Genesee, Niagara, and Orleans Counties starting at 7 a.m. EST Friday and lasting through 7 a.m. EST Sunday. With this storm, total snow accumulations could range anywhere from 1-to-3 feet, and winds could gust as high as 70 miles-per-hour Friday and Friday night.
In addition, a rapid switch from rain to snow will take place due to a sharp drop in temperatures, seeing some areas drop as far as the teens and single digits, which will result in a flash freeze on Friday.
"This is a Blizzard Warning, which is the most serious of winter storms, and this blizzard also has some other things associated with it, which is going to make it a potentially deadly storm. That's why we are making certain recommendations on whether people should be out on the roads at all," said Poloncarz during his press briefing on Thursday. "I've only seen twice now during my tenure as County Executive where the National Weather Service has listed this as an 'extreme' impact. The most recent time, of course, was the storm that hit about four weeks ago. Even in 2014, the November storm, that storm, they never did list it as an extreme impact, but they are saying that there'll be extreme impacts of damaging winds in the Northern part of New York State, but also heavy snow and damaging winds here in Western New York.
"This is something that shouldn't be trifled with. This is a serious, serious storm, in which we're going to see a lot of snow in a short period of time, we're gonna see extreme winds which are going to create blizzard conditions, blinding whiteout conditions, and then we're going to have some very, very low wind chills, which are could be life threatening."
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While there is a State of Emergency set to go into effect come Friday morning, Poloncarz says there has not been a driving ban instituted at this time, and they will wait until the conditions warrant one. However, if they do get bad when they get reports from the field, Poloncarz says he would implement a driving ban, even though he's not thrilled about thinking about doing that for Christmas Eve.
However, Poloncarz does say there will not be a flying ban over the county. That's because Santa Clause will have to make his trip to Western New York for the good boys and girls in the early hours of Christmas morning.
"Santa Claus will be allowed, of course, to fly in on Christmas Eve. He's got special powers, though I think Rudolph is going to really have to put that nose up at the highest degree. This is very similar to the Christmas storm that we all know from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," Poloncarz said. "I don't think Santa would be able to get around without Rudolph at the lead. Though as our Commissioner of Public Works and Air Force man Bill Geary said, Rudolph might need a wing man for this one, because this is going to be one heck of a storm."
When it comes to the potential for the flash freeze, Poloncarz says it will not only affect travel on the roadways, but it will also have an effect on power outages throughout the region. With the potential for winds to also create havoc on traveling, making it difficult-to-impossible, the county is recommending no travel starting Friday morning.
Another area of concern for the region will be the potential of lake shore flooding, with winds along the Lake Erie shoreline possibly creating waves as high as 15-to-20 feet in some areas of the lake.
"With regards to the Hoover Beach area of the Town of Hamburg, there's an expectation because of the strong winds that there are going to be significant waves, maybe even 20-foot waves on Lake Erie in that area, which will cause potential damage to homes, flooding," Poloncarz said. "Route 5, of course that area by St. Francis High School in Athol Springs, had all that work that was done in the last few years by the Army Corps of Engineers to support it, to prevent the splashing over that we often saw on Route 5. Well, we might see it again, because of the significant wave action. If we do see 15-to-20 foot waves, I'm not so certain that that protection system that was put in by the Army Corps of Engineers will stop the flooding in that area. So we are concerned about areas on the waterfront, the Village of Angola, the areas that we've seen in the past where there's been flooding down in the Town of Evans."
While not much can be done to try and mitigate the potential impacts of heightened water levels along the shoreline, Poloncarz says action is being taken to avoid an increase of water levels in other key areas.
"I've already made a request to New York State to have NYPA [New York Power Authority] increase the amount of water that is taken through the Power Authority intake system in Niagara Falls, so that we can reduce the amount of water that's actually in the Niagara River. So that request has been made," he said. "I talked to Jackie Bray, the Commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services for New York State not too long ago, and put in the request, and she was going to talk to NYPA about doing that. We want to reduce the amount of water that's in the Niagara River. We're not going to be able to affect, of course, Lake Erie, but we can reduce the amount of water that's in the Niagara River, which hopefully will reduce flooding that often occurs in these situations in Tonawanda, Grand Island and Niagara Falls."
As for wind chills, Poloncarz says there is a dangerous potential for people to suffer cases of frostbite and hypothermia if people are out too long in the cold conditions. In areas like the City of Buffalo, wind chills could drop to a minimum low of minus-11 degrees starting Friday, while other areas more South like Springville could see wind chills drop well-below minus-22 degrees.
"There's probably going to be driving bans, because the weather's so bad, so there is no reason why you have to go outside and shovel your driveway. It is okay for snow to be on your driveway, especially if there is a travel ban. Please don't risk it," said Dr. Gale Burstein, Erie County Health Commissioner during Thursday's briefing. "Your heart cannot stand the stress, especially when your blood vessels are constricted by the extreme cold. Don't be stupid."
According to Erie County's Department of Public Works Commissioner Bill Geary, crews are already out doing work to pre-salt the roads and do everything possible to prepare for the incoming storm this weekend. However, with the potential forecasts for blizzard-like conditions to make travel impossible, if the plow drivers can't see where they're going on the roads, they may not be out to clear the way.
"There's been a lot of planning that's been going on, and oftentimes, we get questioned with regards to, 'What are you doing now?' Well, this actually goes back six months, eight months, 10 months, so we prepare for this. Unfortunately, this time, we're going to be hit with with a lot of different curveballs here," said Geary. "In addition to the snow, we're going to have the winds. We know we're going to have power outages. So our preparation that takes place here is the communication and that collaborative effort with all of our partners out there - whether they happen to be the municipals or they happen to also be the utilities that we have to deal with on a regular basis - to plan for this type of thing here."
Erie County joins both the City of Buffalo and New York State in issuing a State of Emergency. The city's State of Emergency will begin at 7 a.m. EST, coinciding with Erie County's State of Emergency, while the state will implement its State of Emergency at 6 a.m. EST on Friday.
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Hear more from Thursday's Erie County blizzard briefing available in the player below:
