Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Western New York is a winter wonderland as the end of an expansive storm system makes its presence felt across the region in the form of a storm total of 8 to 12 inches of snow on the ground.
"Here at the airport we're at 9.4 inches and generally the totals are in that 8 to 12 inch range," said National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Thomas early Friday.
More than 30 straight hours of stead snow falling on the Buffalo-Niagara region has kept plows busy, snow blowers running and forced the closure of numerous schools districts.
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As was the case in the January snow storm, the northtowns have seen some higher snow totals than the traditional snow belts south of Buffalo.
"The areas north of the airport up across Niagara County have had a couple reports of 12, even 13 inches of snow," says Thomas.
Relief is on the horizon, says Thomas with Winter Storm Warnings expiring during the day Friday and snow subsiding.
Western New York is not alone with some fierce winter conditions. About 350,000 homes and businesses lost power across the U.S. on Thursday as freezing rain and snow weighed down tree limbs and encrusted power lines, part of a winter storm that caused a deadly tornado in Alabama, dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of the Midwest and brought rare measurable snowfall and hundreds of power outages to parts of Texas.
