Now, That's A Lot Of Snow

From Buffalo News:
A monster lake-effect snowstorm that pummeled areas from South Buffalo to Alden with up to 6 feet of snow in 24 hours is responsible for at least four deaths, authorities reported.
Details of the deaths were still sketchy late Tuesday, but three of them apparently were heart attacks resulting from moving snow or cars. The fourth died as a result of an automobile accident, Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz announced.
There is no name for the great wall of lake-effect snow that unleashed historic amounts of snow through the midsection of Erie County and to the south Tuesday while the sun shone brightly on the northern half.
Lancaster, South Cheektowaga, Elma, Alden and West Seneca took the brunt of the attack, along with areas like Hamburg, Orchard Park and East Aurora and towns and villages further south.
While 60 inches of snow was reported at a site a mile southeast of Lancaster, forecasters noted that just six miles northwest from that spot, only 3.9 inches fell at Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
Dave Zaff of the National Weather Service in Buffalo said there’s no meteorological term for the phenomenon that created that strikingly pronounced wall of clouds and churned out the unbelievable amount of snow.
“Whiteout to blue sky in a very, very short distance,” he said.
It’s not unheard of when it comes to lake-effect storms. But the snow totals? They may be for the history books.
“This will be a historic event,” Zaff said. “Absolutely. It is a historic event.”
Some are calling it “Snowvember.”
Between 120 and 150 vehicles were stranded on the Thruway most of Tuesday....
Lancaster was among the towns to take the brunt of the relentless storm that stubbornly planted itself over the region.
Plows could barely get in and out of the highway barns because of stranded cars. Paramedics ditched their ambulances in snowbanks in favor of snowmobiles to get to emergencies.
“It’s like Beirut here,” said Jeffrey Bono, disaster coordinator for the Lancaster Volunteer Fire Corps. “I kid you not. It’s horrible.”...
The Southtowns saw its share, with totals in the 3- to 4-foot range, but the most unyielding of the snow fell from South Buffalo across to Alden.
Snow fell at a rate of 3 to 5 inches an hour, rendering snowblowers useless and plows immobile.
“For a 24-hour event, it’s big,” Zaff said....
A second lake-effect storm – driven by the same factors as the first: frigid air and a gusty west wind with just the right trajectory – is expected to pelt many of the same areas as were hit on Tuesday.
Tweeted Poloncarz late Tuesday: “Some parts of our county are going to receive a year’s worth of snowfall in three days.”  http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/winter/brutal-storm-claims-four-lives-20141118I'm 6'2 and so the snow would be up to my forehead.
I don't even know how you clear that much snow if the plows cab't even operate.
Gotta love that global warming.