The Buffalo Bills home game against Cleveland has been moved to Detroit (the Lions are on the road this week against the NY Giants). Here’s a pic. of the snow Friday at Highmark Stadium at Orchard Park NY near Buffalo. Check out the video that the Bills posted. BTW if you haven’t see it – pretty amazing end to the Bills/Vikings game last Sunday. Drone video of the snow at Hallmark Stadium during a break in the snowfall. The National Guard has been activated to assist residents of the Buffalo area.
That’s enough snow to bury other star players like Von Miller (6-foot-3), Stefon Diggs (6-foot) and Jordan Poyer (6-foot), and nearly a foot taller than the shortest player, running back Devin Singletary (5-foot-7).
In fact, only five players on the Bills entire 53-man roster are taller than the amount of snow that fell in Orchard Park:
An observer in Orchard Park recorded 77″ of new snow. Snow was falling at the rate of 3″ an hour and was accompanied by lightning and thunder. It’s not just the intensity of lake-effect snow, it’s the long 3-day duration of this event. Other snow totals Friday night: 73.7″ at Hamburg, 72.3″ at Natural Bridge, 71″ Blasdell, 61″ Scranton, 57.4″ Watertown, 57″ New Hamburg, 55.5″ Harrisville, 54.5″ ‘East Aurora (with a snow depth of 41″), 54″ Fort Drum, 50″ Eden, 49.5″ Marilla, 46″ Angola and 42″ West Seneca. Nearly 6 feet of new snow in Hamburg NY.
In Buffalo, at least two men died from heart attacks while shoveling snow. “Our plows are getting stuck“. “The reports we just had is it’s some of the worst conditions that our Public Works Departments and Sheriffs deputies have ever faced in a storm…” Pictures of the snow around the Buffalo area.
Friday, Grand Rapids recorded 7.0″ of snow, giving us a 2-day total of 14.6″. The G.R. monthly total was up to 18.6″ by midnight. Grand Rapids officially had 8″ of snow on the ground at the airport. I’ve got a foot of snow on the ground at my house. Kalamazoo had 7.7″ on Friday. Less snow fell at Lake Michigan, where Muskegon officially recorded just less than an inch. The peak gust of wind at Muskegon was 41 mph. The wind continues to cause drifting, especially in outlying areas. East Grand Rapids reported a two-day snowfall total of 20.6″.
It was football games and parades today. Evening parades in Battle Creek and Hudsonville have been postponed. We’ll see temperatures in the mid 20s, and stiff west-southwest wind at 15-25 mph wind that will cause some blowing snow and considerable drifting snow. Wind chill factors have been in the single digits.
While a period of snow along with windy and cold conditions and drifting snow prevailed for the football games in E. Lansing and Ann Arbor, they were far enough east to avoid the significant snow.
Travel remains a bit of a challenge this Saturday night.
