Snow Falls on the South: Thousands Without Power in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia

Snow Falls on the South: Thousands Without Power in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia

An early season snow is combining with gusty winds to cause power outages, road closures and other adverse impacts across the South.

At the peak of the snow, tens of thousands of people were without power in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia  According toweather.com senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman, the unique combination of snow, wind and the time of year is contributing to these power outages. 

"The end of October/start of November is typically near the peak time of year for fall foliage in the southern Appalachians and adjacent piedmont," said Erdman.

"Trees with leaves have an increased surface area with which to catch accumulating snow, compared to those whose leaves have already fallen. Throw strong winds into the equation, and you have a recipe for downed limbs and trees that can fall onto power lines and cause power outages. The force of wind plus wet snow can also down power lines, leading to additional  outages."

And road closures were also reported across the region. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) reported that all lanes on I-40 were closed for roughly 15 miles in Haywood County "due to multiple vehicle accidents and inclement weather." The closure lasted for multiple hours, but as of 2 p.m. EDT, NCDOT tweeted that the stretch of I-40 had been cleared and traffic was once again moving in the area.

Here are the latest power outages and other reports from multiple southern states experiencing snow this weekend:

South Carolina

The state's two utility companies were reporting that more than 26,000 people were without power across the state just before 10 a.m. local time, during the peak impacts from the storm. By late afternoon, those outages still applied to more than 6,200 customers across the state. The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) said that all lanes were closed on a stretch of I-20  near Calks Ferry Road after trucks couldn't make it up a hill in the area, but the stretch of I-20 has since reopened.

Virginia

The state's utility providers report that around 5,240 people remain without power. There were more than 7,000 people without power during the peak of power outages.

Tennessee/North Carolina

All of the roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, were closed Saturday due to treacherous slick conditions. WBIR reports that park rangers also evacuated campers over fears that trees could come crashing down on campsites.

North Carolina utility providers are also reporting more than 8,500 customers are without power across the state as of 4 p.m. local time.

Georgia

Georgia Power reported that more than 10,000 customers were without power across the state during the peak impacts of the storm. As of late afternoon, power outages across the state had dropped to a little more than 6,600 customers. A large portion of those outages were located in the Atlanta metro area, where gusts exceeding 40 mph were reported, downing limbs and trees onto power lines.

 http://www.weather.com/news/news/snow-impacts-south-carolina-georgia-virginia-maine-20141102

Alaska's Aleutian Islands Experience Intense Bering Sea Storm

Alaska's Aleutian Islands Experience Intense Bering Sea Storm

Portions of Alaska's Aleutian Islands experienced near-hurricane level winds from remnants of Typhoon Nuri Friday.

On Shemya Island, 120 people barricaded themselves indoors to avoid the storm, which reached sustained winds of 70 mph and gusts up to 96 mph as recorded Friday morning. 

(FORECAST: Intense Storm Swirling In Bering Sea)

The island is home to the U.S. military's Eareckson Air Station, which serves mainly as an early warning radar installation. Acting manager Don Llewellyn said no one was going outside, but people can see light poles waving.

But toward evening, the winds had eased enough to allow personnel to get outside and check for any storm damage, said Tommie Baker, public affairs officer for the Alaskan Command.

"A couple of the buildings had some minor damage, but there were no injuries," he said. "They are going to let it pass through a little bit more and (then) go out and do a full island assessment."

He estimated that by 5 p.m. Friday, sustained winds had dropped to 45-65 mph with gusts of 80 mph.

The brunt of the storm is expected to pass into the Bering Sea and lose strength, but forecasters warned it will still push unseasonably frigid air into much of the U.S. next week.

"It's going to slowly weaken all the way through Sunday," National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Ahsenmacher said. "It's going to be a very slow process."

Forecasters said waves could be as high as 50 feet, prompting ships and fishing vessels to get out of the storm's path or seek protected harbors.

Ahsenmacher said late Friday night that he hasn't heard of any problems regarding shipping.

"Most mariners know about this storm and they are trying to stay away," he said.

(MORE: First Significant Snow of Season for Some in the Midwest, Plains Next Week) 

The storm was expected to surpass the intensity of 2012's Superstorm Sandy and has the potential to be one of the most intensive to ever hit the North Pacific, meteorologists said. But while Sandy was blamed for at least 182 deaths and $65 billion in damage on the East Coast, Nuri's target is a sparsely populated region with just a few small communities where people are accustomed to severe weather.

Friday's high temperature was in the mid-40s in Shemya, which is in a sub-polar region that doesn't get the same bitter cold as Alaska's interior. But the island 1,500 miles southwest of Anchorage gets plenty of extreme weather, including 100-mile winds. The community averages six weather-related lockdowns a year, Llewellyn said.

"This is nothing new to us," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "This one's a little bit more intense, but it's something that we're prepared to deal with."

The system is expected to freeze much of the lower 48 states next week, forecaster Bruce Sullivan said. Snow also is coming to areas including the northern Rockies and northern Plains.

In Great Falls, Montana, the high temperature is predicted to be 17 degrees Tuesday, compared with the normal high of 43, Sullivan said. The forecast for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is a high of 25, which is about 20 degrees below normal. High temperatures in Minneapolis will only reach the upper 20s.

Amid prospects that the storm could dip into the upper Midwest, National Weather Service meteorologist Gino Izzi in Chicago offered a warning to that region's populace: Winter is about to hit, sooner there than usual.

Izzi said highs there are expected to settle into the 30s from Tuesday through Friday, while nightly lows could drop into the 20s, perhaps even the teens.

"It doesn't look real promising for a warmup after that, either," he said of the longer-range forecast that meteorologists hadn't sorted out by Friday.

In Sioux Falls, weather service meteorological technician Tim Masters said temperatures will be colder than average but won't break any records.

"We've been above normal most of the fall, so this is our first shot going the other way being below normal," he said. "Basically, this is a wakeup call that this is November and it can get pretty cold this time of year. Hopefully we don't stay that cold very long."

In the Aleutians, the storm's path includes a busy maritime route for cargo ships traveling between the U.S. and Asia, as well as the red king crab fishery made famous by the Discovery Channel reality show "Deadliest Catch." Mariners were finding protected harbors or moving away from the path, according to Brett Farrell with the nonprofit Marine Exchange of Alaska. No one in their right mind would stick around that area, he said.

Officials are also closely watching the western coast of Alaska's mainland, according to Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Fall storms routinely batter many coastal communities, and erosion has long been a problem.

http://www.weather.com/news/news/alaska-aleutian-islands-bering-sea-storm-20141108

Lightning Will Increase With Global Warming, Study Says

While severe weather like hurricanes and tornadoes typically only hit particular areas of the globe, lightning can strike anywhere. And it does, a lot. A bolt of lightning flashes through the sky and hits the ground somewhere around the world about 100 times every second. That’s 8 million lightning strikes in a single day — yes, you read that right: just one day.

Now, a new study finds that lightning strikes will become even more frequent as the planet warms, at least in the continental U.S.

For years scientists have been exploring how the steady warming of the planet might be impacting severe weather, though most of the attention has been placed on hazards like hurricanes and heavy downpours. And while those events are major killers, lightning is also a significant hazard. So far this year, 25 people have been killed by lightning strikes in the U.S., and lightning is the trigger for more than half of U.S. wildfires, putting pressure on human infrastructure as well as natural ecosystems.

But so far, relatively scant attention has been paid to how lightning might change as the planet’s temperature rises with the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. And the studies that have been done to date estimate the increase in lightning to be anywhere from 5 to 100 percent per degree Celsius rise — a strikingly wide range.

The new study, detailed in the Nov. 13 issue of the journal Science, has found a relatively simple way to use other atmospheric factors to predict changes in lightning rates. The findings suggest that lighting rates will increase 12 percent per every degree Celsius (about 2°F) rise in global temperatures. That comes to a 50 percent increase by the end of the century.

‘Beautiful’ Lightning Data

Study author David Romps, who studies atmospheric dynamics at the University of California, Berkeley, didn’t set out to study the effect of warming on lightning, but instead was trying to use lightning to “understand something about how, when, where, and why convection pops up over the United States,” he told Climate Central. (Convection is the process that drives thunderstorms.)

It just so happens that there is what Romps calls a “really beautiful” lightning dataset from the National Lightning Detection Network, which records when and where each of the approximately 20 million flashes of cloud-to-ground lightning occurs over the U.S. each year.

Somewhere during the process of exploring his initial question, Romps started to wonder if other atmospheric variables could be used to predict lightning rates. In science, “it’s rare that you end up doing what you think you’re going to do,” he said.

The particular variables he looked at can be used as measures of storm convection, the idea being that more vigorous convection is linked to more lightning. They include how heavy the rain in a storm is and how much energy is available in the atmosphere to fuel the storm’s convection.

Measurements at individual weather stations suggested these factors could say something about lightning rates, but they were fairly isolated. While he was skeptical, it was enough for Romps to start digging deeper into the data.

To start, Romps made some simple maps: One showed lightning strike data over the continental U.S. from 2011. The other combined precipitation and convection energy data for the same year (the only one for which data for all three variables was available). The two maps showed a surprising similarity, with much of the area with the most lightning also the area where the other two factors were high.

 “I was puzzled by that,” Romps said. “It’s very rare in observations that you see a correlation that good, especially for three completely independent datasets.”

A graph that compared lightning with the other two factors over time was even more shocking, with the peaks and valleys of all three matching strikingly closely. Romps was, well, thunderstruck.

“That’s basically when my jaw hit the floor,” Romps said. “That’s when we knew we were really on to something.”

Romps said that match shows that using precipitation and storm energy data was “a much more robust method for predicting lightning” than other studies have previously used.

Lightning in a Warmer World

It’s also fortuitous because the latest batch of climate models from the most recent assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are the first to include those two factors, meaning Romps and his colleagues could use that model data to make a prediction of the changes to lightning rates in a warmer future.

Running the data, the team found that lightning would be expected to increase by about 12 percent per degree Celsius of warming (give or take 5 percent), with about a 50 percent rise over the 21st century. Using the 20 million-strike average, that would mean some 30 million lightning strikes per year over the continental U.S. by 2100.

The results make physical sense given that both heavy precipitation and storm energy are related to the amount of water vapor available in the atmosphere and one of the main accepted results of a warming atmosphere is also a moister one. Essentially, more moisture suggests more vigorous thunderstorms and so more lightning.

Colin Price, an atmospheric scientist at Tel Aviv University and one of the few people to look at the issue of warming and lightning, said that the results of the study were in broad agreement with ones he published for the whole globe in 1994, “so I am happy to see this study supports our earlier work.”

Price, who was not involved in the new study, said that it was “not surprising” that factors investigated in this study could say something about lightning rates. “But I am sure there are many other indices and parameters that may be just as good in predicting lightning. And the proxies will very likely vary with region and season,” he said in an email.

That variation is something the new study didn’t look at, since it examined only the continental U.S. “We don’t know how that increase is distributed over the seasons or geographically,” Romps said, adding that tackling those questions are the next step in his research.

http://www.weather.com/science/environment/news/lightning-will-increase-warming-20141113

Colorado Dust Storm: Brutal Cold Front Creates Haboob

Colorado Dust Storm: Brutal Cold Front Creates Haboob

A fast-moving cold front pushed through the Plains and Colorado Monday evening, causing at least one large dust storm to form.

Known as a haboob, the dust storm rushed through parts of Colorado on the leading edge of brutally cold air. According to local reports sent to the National Weather Service, winds of at least 50 mph were recorded during the dust storm.

"Southeast Colorado, western Kansas, northeast New Mexico and the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas remain in severe to extreme drought," said weather.com senior meteorologist Jon Erdman. "The central and southern High Plains picked up little or no precipitation from Winter Storm Astro. This arctic cold front was able to loft dust easily as it plunged south from Colorado to eastern New Mexico and western Texas."

Arriving quickly behind the haboob was some of the coldest air of the season for Colorado and neighboring states. Parts of Colorado were nearly 40 degrees colder than they were at the exact same time 24 hours earlier, and Tuesday's high temperatures were expected to remain below freezing for most of the eastern half of the state.

The cold air rushed southward as Winter Storm Astro blanketed the Northern Plains and Midwest with inches, if not feet, of snow.

 http://www.weather.com/news/news/colorado-dust-storm-20141111

Four Differences in the Weather Between North and South Florida

A recent proposal by a southern Florida politician is calling for South Florida to become its own state. This idea, to split the northern part of the state from the southern part, comes from political concerns regarding the rise in sea level, as some in South Florida do not feel that the state government in Tallahassee is addressing the problem.

But there's much more to North and South Florida than environmental concerns. Both regions of the state can experience different weather, too. Here's a look at four big weather differences between the two.

Chance of snow?

One of the biggest differences between North and South Florida is the potential for snow. Florida doesn't usually experience much snow, but it can happen, at least in the northern part of the state. 

Back in February 1958 areas of Tallahassee experienced up to 2.8 inches of snow. And just this January the area once again reported a trace of snow.

Jacksonville and Pensacola have also received 1 to 1.5 inches of snow, and even Daytona Beach has seen a trace of snow on multiple occasions.

Only one area in South Florida, however, has reported measurable snow (at least 0.1 inch), when Tampa saw 0.2 inch in January of 1977.

Clearly, South Florida needs to plan less for wintry weather than North Florida.

How low does the thermometer go?

Along with the chance for snow, North Florida also experiences temperatures below freezing. Most locations in North Florida see the thermometer drop to at or below freezing at least once a year.

Tallahassee actually has an average low temperature of 39 degrees from late December through most of January.

Meanwhile, most of South Florida rarely sees temperatures drop to the freezing mark. Since records began in 1872, Key West has never recorded a temperature at or below freezing. In fact, the coldest temperature recorded is 41 degrees, which occurred on January 13, 1981.

However, Orlando does see freezing temperatures, and Tampa does on occasion as well. The last time Tampa dropped below 32 degrees was on January 13, 2011 when the thermometer dipped to 31 degrees.

Consequently, South Florida will save on heating compared to North Florida.

Temperature extremes

North Florida also sees larger temperature extremes. Cold fronts do not always make it through South Florida, but they do bring changes in temperature and humidity to North Florida.

Average high temperatures for some of the North Florida cities (Tallahassee, Pensacola, Jacksonville and Daytona Beach) range from 60 to 92 degrees, while South Florida cities (Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Fort Myers and Key West) see average highs range from 70 to 92 degrees, a much smaller range. 

A similar story is seen in the average low temperatures, which range from 39 to 75 degrees for North Florida and 49 to 80 degrees for South Florida. 

This difference is even more apparent when looking at record temperatures. 

Pensacola reported a low temperature of 5 degrees on January 21, 1985, while the coldest temperature for the larger cities in South Florida is 18 degrees, recorded in Tampa on December 13, 1962. That is a 13 degree difference.

Pensacola also saw the highest temperature of the North Florida cities when it reached 106 degrees on July 14, 1980. The makes the difference between Pensacola's highest and lowest temperature 101 degrees.

Meanwhile, the highest temperature reported in South Florida is 103 degrees in Fort Myers in June 1981. So the range in temperatures is much greater in North Florida.

Rainfall differences

One more difference can be seen between North and South Florida: range in rainfall amounts.

South Florida sees a greater difference when comparing their driest month on average to their wettest month on average. 

Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers, Miami and Key West see on average between 1.5 to 2 inches of rain in their driest month, and in their wettest month, the average rainfall ranges from 6.71 to 10.14 inches. This gives a range for those cities between 5.55 and 8.24 inches.

Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Pensacola and Daytona Beach see average rainfall amounts between 2.11 and 4.18 inches in the driest month, and between 6.96 and 8.19 in the wettest month. That's a range of 3.23 to 6.08 inches.

However, the average annual rainfall totals are very similar when comparing North and South Florida. The driest months for both tend to be in the winter, although a few spots in South Florida are driest in the spring. The wettest months for both run from June to September.

http://www.weather.com/forecast/news/north-south-florida-weather-differences-20141023

Heavy Rain, Strong Winds Again for the Pacific Northwest Early This Week 

A heavy rain maker has set up in the Pacific Northwest, and it will continue to bring much needed rain and mountain snow through the first half of the week. With that said, it is also producing strong gusty wind that is downing numerous trees and powerlines.

The Setup

Tuesday Wind Gust Forecast

A large southward dip in the jet stream has developed over the eastern Pacific Ocean, allowing round after round of low pressure systems to enter the Northwest.

The first round of rain came ashore last week as a low pressure system and its trailing cold front barrel into the Pacific Coast from Washington to northwest California. The storms produced enough instability and wind shear to produce a tornado in Washington state on Thursday.

Over the weekend, a second low pressure system ushered heavy rain into the Pacific Northwest. This second system brought rain as far south as San Francisco and Sacramento, as well as snow over the Cascades and northern Rockies. It also produced wind gusts as high as 91 mph in Oregon, and strong sustained winds knocked numerous trees and powerlines to the ground, leaving thousands in the dark throughout the region.

This next round moving into the Northwest this week will feature the remnants of former Hurricane Ana, which have been absorbed by a low pressure system that will impact the Northwest Monday night through Wednesday.

Umbrella Weather Continues

Monday's Forecast

A general 1 to 3 inches of rain is expected from Northern California through coastal Washington through Tuesday, with locally higher amounts along the coast.

Strong winds will also accompany this system, especially Monday afternoon through Tuesday evening. Sustained winds of 20 to 25 mph are expected along the Oregon coast from Astoria to North Bend, though winds may gust as high as 50 to 60 mph during the event.

Winds of these speeds will bring the risk for power outages, tree damage and difficult driving conditions. Already, there have been numerous reports of downed trees and powerlines throughout the region.

In particular, a 91 mph wind gust was recorded over the weekend in Mary's Peak, Oregon, near the coast. In Port Orford, Oregon, rescue workers extracted people from their recreational vehicles after trees and powerlines fell on the RVs, resulting in numerous fires throughout an RV park. One person was taken to the hospital due to injuries.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

Northwest Forecast Rainfall Totals

Heavy rain over the next few days may not be a welcomed sight in Seattle, which has already received over 36 inches of rain this year, a surplus of more than 11.8 inches.

Through the weekend, as much as 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain are expected to fall within the inland valleys of southwest Washington and northwest Oregon, with heavier amounts in the coastal ranges.

Such heavy amounts of rain may produce flash flooding and debris flows or mudslides within burn scar areas from recent wildfires. In urban areas, fallen leaves in storm drains may impede the flow of rainwater runoff, leading to minor urban flooding.

 

http://www.weather.com/forecast/news/heavy-rain-pacific-northwest-washington-oregon-northern-california-20141022

Severe Weather Likely in the South This Weekend; Texas, Louisiana Among States At Risk for Storms

By Linda Lam 
Published: November 19, 2014

Big changes are on the way for the South this weekend. Warmer air will return and a low pressure system will track east from the Plains, which could trigger severe thunderstorms as Thanksgiving travelers begin their journeys.

This system will likely bring severe thunderstorms from Texas into the Lower Mississippi Valley and parts of the Southeast from Friday into Monday. Damaging wind gusts, large hail, locally heavy rain and even a few tornadoes are possible.

High pressure will slide off the East Coast by Saturday, turning winds around to a southerly direction for the eastern U.S. These southerly winds will bring much warmer temperatures Sunday.

This southerly flow will also bring moisture from the Gulf of Mexico northward into central and eastern Texas ahead of a low pressure system approaching from the west. As an upper-level trough and a strong disturbance slide east, shear will increase and there may be enough instability to produce a few severe thunderstorms.


Severe Forecast Timing

Friday: Isolated to scattered severe thunderstorm are possible on Friday during the day in eastern Texas and overnight in western and south-central Texas. The primary threat with these storms will be large hail and heavy rain but an isolated tornado is possible as well.

Saturday: The greatest risk for severe thunderstorms will be in eastern Texas and Louisiana. 

Saturday night: A few severe thunderstorms are likely from eastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma through Arkansas and Louisiana eastward into Mississippi and the western panhandle of Florida. The primary threats will be damaging wind gusts, heavy rain and a few tornadoes. 

Sunday: As the cold front pushes east, the risk of isolated thunderstorms will be found from southern Alabama into northern Florida, southern Georgia and eastern South Carolina. There is also a chance of an isolated severe thunderstorm farther north in northern Mississippi, Tennessee, eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.

Monday: A few isolated severe thunderstorms may develop in parts of the Southeast, including southern Alabama, northern Florida and southern Georgia.

Additional Impacts

Widespread rain will also be found over the eastern third of the country from Saturday to Monday, which could impact travel plans as well.

Rain is expected across parts of the Midwest on Saturday and then will push eastward into the Northeast and Southeast on Sunday.

Ahead of this system, temperatures will moderate. The warm temperatures will be welcomed throughout the East, especially after the arctic chill much of the country has experienced and a few record highs are even possible.

However, the warmth will not last long as another shot of cooler air will be found behind this system.

Snow is also expected to develop on the backside of this system starting Sunday night in the northern Plains and spreading into parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes on Monday.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/severe-storms-plains-south-weekend-20141118

NASA Photo Illuminates Florida's Risk For Sea Level Rise, Deadly Tropical Cyclones

By Eric Zerkel 
Published: November 19, 2014

NASA's Earth Observatory just released an awe-inspiring photo (in the slideshow above) that shows just why so many Floridians are at risk to tropical cyclones and global sea level rise.

The photo, taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2014, shows Florida's peninsula illuminated at night. As NASA notes, the brightest areas in the photo indicate the most populous areas in the state. Notably, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area, home to 5.6 million people, is the most noticeable blip on the landscape, lighting up the entire southeastern coast of Florida a brilliant white.

Other noticeable cities include the Tampa metro area (2.8 million people), the brightest area on the Gulf Coast, the Orlando metro area (2.3 million people), which lights up a chunk of central Florida and the Jacksonville metro area (1.3 million people) in the far northeastern corner of the state.

More importantly, as you can tell from the bright spots in the photo, most of Florida's nearly 20 million people live along the coast. And even though Florida hasn't had a hurricane make landfall on the state in more than nine years, the risk for a potentially deadly tropical cyclone only increases as more people flock to Florida's coasts.

The most notorious example might just come from Hurricane Andrew, which made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane in the Miami metro area in 1992. When Andrew came ashore in the Homestead, Florida, area it shredded homes and caused an estimated $23 billion in damage, killing 23 people.

Global sea level rise is another risk to the millions along Florida's coast. Since 1880, sea levels along the Florida coast have risen by nearly a foot, and are projected to rise another 3 to 6 feet by the end of the century due to climate change. So great is the concern for sea level rise in the coastal areas of South Florida, where some areas are currently just five feet above sea level, that local politicians in South Miami, Florida, recently proposed splitting Florida into two separate states, North and South Florida, in order to better sort out sea level rise implications.

With Florida's population centers so clustered along the coast, it seems more like a matter of when, not if, serious and possibly deadly events could impact millions of Floridians.

Don't forget to click through the entire slideshow above to see how other global cities light up the surface of Earth at night.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/nasa-photo-florida-coast-night-20141119

Buffalo, New York Area, Great Lakes, Lake-Effect Snow Impacts: At Least 5 Dead, State of Emergency Declared

November 19, 2014

Snow was still falling on the Buffalo, New York, area Wednesday morning, a day after a major lake-effect snow event dumped up to 60 inches of snow on areas south of Buffalo, killing at least five people and stranding vehicles for hours on roads throughout the area. In response, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the western New York counties most impacted by the snow.

Snow also fell in other Great Lake states, including northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where up to two feet of snow blew ashore. Those areas will get a bit of a reprieve today before the lake-effect event ramps-up again in the evening hours Wednesday into the morning Thursday. For specific forecast details click on the link below.


New York

At least five storm-related deaths were reported in Buffalo, New York, Tuesday night, Erie County authorities announced.  A 46-year-old man was found dead in his vehicle in Alden, New York. The car was completely buried in snow, The Buffalo News reports.  A second person died in an automobile accident, and the three other deaths are possibly due to cardiac complications.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for 10 counties, including Erie County, most impacted by lake-effect snow. The declaration mobilizes more than 1,000 transportation personnel, including 526 snow plows, 74 large loaders and 21 snow blowers. The declaration also sends 150 National Guardsmen into the Buffalo area to assist with recovery efforts.

Areas of western New York will definitely need every bit of that help to clear roads of abandoned vehicles and large accumulations of snow, especially south of Buffalo, New York. Up to 150 vehicles were abandoned on The Thruway (I-90), and numerous vehicles were abandoned on roads throughout the Buffalo metro area. Emergency personnel worked throughout the night to rescue people stranded in their vehicles using snowmobiles and all terrain vehicles.  Erie County officials reported that they had rescued all stranded people in Erie County Tuesday evening, but The Buffalo News reports that many weren't rescued and remained trapped overnight on The Thruway.

Of those trapped, WIVB reports that 24 members of the Niagara University Women's Basketball team were stuck on a bus on I-90 for hours. The team's bus finally was able to move after snow plows cleared a path for them, and after more than 24 hours they finally were able to leave their bus, ABC News reports.

A travel ban remains in place for areas south of Buffalo.

According to The Buffalo News, Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz declared a state of emergency for all areas of Erie County most impacted by the heavy snow Tuesday. The state of emergency imposes travel bans in the areas, and includes the communities of South Buffalo, Lackawanna, Hamburg, Lancaster and West Seneca, amongst others.

Roads remain shutdown in the area, including a 132-mile-long stretch of The Thruway (I-90) from Exit 46 in Rochester, New York, to Exit 61 on the Pennsylvania State Line, according to The Thruway Authority. The New York State Department of Transportation urged people to stay off roads in western New York, as white-out conditions and snow accumulations on roads made travel impossible across a large area of the region. 

Snow was so heavy that it collapsed roofs, doors and windows across the Buffalo metro area. In one such case, WKBW reports that a roof collapsed at a warehouse near a health care facility in Cheektowaga, New York. There are currently concerns that the collapse could spread to the entire building and spark a gas leak. Snow also plowed through doors at Chrissy Hazard's home in Cheektowaga. A rush of snow ripped a pair of French doors off the walls and inundated a room in the house. No one was injured in the incident.

Snow was so deep that ten of West Seneca's 22 snow plows were stuck in heavy snow Tuesday morning, according to The Buffalo News. Emergency vehicles weren't immune to transportation woes. Plows were being sent to free police cars in Hamburg, New York, and fire trucks and ambulances reported problems traversing snow covered roads in South Buffalo, The Buffalo News reports.

Hundreds of businesses, schools and government offices all closed Tuesday and remained closed Wednesday because of snow. Buffalo International Airport canceled or delayed dozens of flights Tuesday. Click here to check the status of departures. Click here to check the status of arrivals. Many Niagara Frontier Transportation bus routes were scrapped as well.

Michigan

Roads all across the state were slick Wednesday from snow and ice, according to the Michigan State Police. Road conditions sparked multiple accidents across the state, including in western Michigan, where MLive reports that there have been dozens of accidents and slide-offs.

A semi truck driver was injured when the truck slid off of westbound M-6 and into a ditch, setting the truck ablaze.  On Tuesday,  a crash involving at least 11 vehicles closed all lanes of US-131 between Cedar Springs and Rockford for two hours as crews cleared the accident, Michigan, WoodTV reports.

More than 2,000 power outages were reported in Kent County, Michigan, after a tree fell on a power line, WoodTV reports.

According to WWMT schools and businesses once again reported delays and closures Wednesday morning. Click here for a full list of closures and delays.  On Tuesday, Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan both closed. According to Western Michigan news, Tuesday's campus closures was the earliest such closure in more than 25 years.

Snow also canceled and delayed flights at Gerald R. Ford airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Tuesday morning. For a full list of delays and cancelations at the airport, click here.

Indiana

Lake-effect snow led to dangerous conditions on the U.S. 20 Bypass near South Bend, Indiana. The St. Joseph County, Indiana, Police Department said there were multiple crashes on the road Tuesday morning that forced the closure of eastbound lanes near S.R. 2, WSBTV reports.

Three people suffered injuries when their vehicles collided on the Bypass. Three firefighters responding to the crash were injured when a semi-truck collided with the fire engine on the Bypass. The firefighters were taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/buffalo-new-york-great-lakes-snow-20141119