Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The winter season is underway in Western New York with the first big lake effect snow storm dumping several inches of snow across parts of the region over the last several days.
After a couple days for those hardest-hit areas to recover and clear out some of the snow that fell, a second round of lake effect snow is impacting the region Thursday and into Friday. This same storm will see areas in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua get hammered with additional snow through Saturday.
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While the snow started falling considerably later in the fall compared to years past, many independent contractors were busy, but prepared to begin clearing out driveways and parking lots for many local residents and businesses.
"Saturday it all started. We went out about Saturday afternoon, around 2 o'clock, and we just plowed throughout the night and into the next day," said Geoff Bray, owner of Arbor Lawn based out of Orchard Park. "I gotta hand it to my guys, they all had 20-plus hours for the first round. We had a couple new guys, they weren't perfect the first day, but they did a really good job. We just tried to keep in front of it and keep up with it the best we could."
Bray and his crew was sure to be out early and often this past weekend, clearing some driveways and parking lots multiple times a day.
"On Saturday and into Sunday, we plowed everybody twice, and then we went back out Sunday night. Realistically, if we can be done by 7:30, 8 o'clock, that's a great day for for us. It all depends on how much and when it starts snowing, but we try to get everything done [by the] early morning," explained Bray with WBEN.
While Bray says getting nearly two feet of snow for the first storm of the season wasn't ideal, he feels many of his customers were pleased with their efforts overall.
"I don't think we had any complaints throughout the weekend, and to be honest with you, we had some nice compliments. People reached out and said, 'Thank you!'" Bray said. "Whether it's me or the next guy down the road, after all those hours, to get a thank you is more than you can ever imagine."
At this time, Bray says he's pretty much done taking on anyone new to help clear snow during this winter season.
"We have our route, the guys know the route, so if someone were to call, it would be very unlikely that we would take them on, at this point," he said.
"We try to get our contracts out by the end of September, and hope that everyone can get the contract signed and back to us by the middle of October so we can start staking the parking lots and the driveways, and getting our list all together, making sure everyone knows where they're going and where everything's at."
For those who do have their driveways or parking lots plowed out by an independent snow plow driver, Bray says it's always appreciated if people are able to move their vehicles in order to clear out as much space as possible.
"If people have a car in the driveway, we do our best to get around the car," he said. "You pull into a driveway or a parking lot, and you see what you got, and you just go from there."