Starting early Tuesday morning, three feet of snow blanketed parts of Upstate New York, especially the city of Buffalo - and the deluge likely won't stop for days.
The National Weather Service has issued a lake effect snow warning for Genesee, Erie, and Wyoming counties until 1:00 pm EST on Wednesday. Snowfall rates could hit five inches per hour, bringing a potential total of six feet of snow, the service reports.
Lake effect snow occurs when a cold front moves over a large body of warmer water, creating unstable temperatures in the atmosphere. As a result, clouds form, suck up water, and develop into heavy snow as they move downwind.
White-out conditions forced the closure of I-90, a major highway in the area, in both directions. Going forward, visibility could reach zero at times, according to the NWS.
Check out some photos and videos of the already heavy snowfall:
35 floors up, looking south across lake. Wall of lake effect snow. pic.twitter.com/280RUY8raj
- Western NY weather (@WNYweather) November 18, 2014
@weatherchannel #LakeEffect #snow #BuffaloSnow pic.twitter.com/GWhA6XQMwT
- Dennis Brown (@deno716) November 18, 2014
I've seen some crazy weather in OP before, but the 3 feet of snow floating on my dads Rav is ??#BuffaloSnow pic.twitter.com/uIU8jjPDJo
- Kerry Chella (@CherryKella) November 18, 2014
Off to Buffalo...picture courtesy of one of my mom's friends that lives there... pic.twitter.com/hgN2kq0wxD
- Shane Hynes (@Hyner87) November 18, 2014
These cuties are snowed in! #Alden #WGRZsnow @WGRZ pic.twitter.com/TNWEXCxTuq
- Heather Ly (@HeatherLyWGRZ) November 18, 2014