Nearly 2 feet of snow piles up in New York state as lake-effect snowstorm buries Great Lakes

Nearly 2 feet of snow has already buried parts of New York state, and there are no signs the winter weather will be winding down anytime soon as the region continues to get blasted by the first significant lake-effect snowstorm of the season.

The storm kicked into high gear Monday after cold air plunged into the U.S. from Canada and flowed over the still-unfrozen Great Lakes, leading to this multiday storm.

More than 3.3 million Americans along the eastern shores of lakes Erie and Ontario in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York state have been under Lake-Effect Snow Warnings since the start of the workweek, and they’re expected to continue until at least Wednesday.

The Lake-Effect Snow Warnings include cities such as Cleveland, Erie in Pennsylvania and Jamestown, Syracuse, Oswego and Watertown in New York.

Schools across the region have been closed because of the heavy snow.

Earlier this week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged New Yorkers to prepare for this storm.

“The most hazardous weather conditions will be in the areas where the lake-effect snow bands form and produce a lot of snow in a short period, which will hamper travel in some places for the next day or so,” she said in a statement.

She also urged people to use extra caution on the roads when traveling and to pay attention to the forecast.

New York State Police on Tuesday said several commercial vehicles were off the road on Interstate 90 westbound between exits 11 and 12 in Rensselaer County.

State police urged drivers to seek an alternate route as a result.

Those in areas where heavy snow is falling or expected to fall should download the free FOX Weather app and enable notifications to receive important alerts during the winter storm.

FOX Weather Correspondent Katie Byrne was in Altmar, New York, Tuesday morning and said just under a foot of snow had already fallen at her location east of Lake Ontario.

“Some of the conditions on the roads, they’re pretty intense,” she said. “And I can tell you from firsthand experience. We had to drive here to Altmar last night from Pulaski, and it was one of the scariest drives I have experienced so far.”

The FOX Forecast Center says heavy snow will linger along the eastern shores of Lake Erie through Tuesday afternoon. A heavy snow band that was impacting Cleveland Tuesday morning is predicted to weaken later in the day.

The snow off Lake Erie will gradually become lighter throughout the day before winding down on Wednesday.

More than a foot of snow is expected to fall from the northeastern Ohio snowbelt through the Buffalo Southtowns in western New York.

Significant snow totals are not expected in the city of Buffalo, where only a few inches are likely, according to the FOX Forecast Center.

The heaviest snow during this storm will occur east of Lake Ontario on the Tug Hill Plateau in central New York as westerly winds blow across the longest axis of the lake, allowing the air to pick up moisture before meeting the plateau, where it will be lifted to create very heavy snow.

Snowfall rates are expected to exceed 2 inches per hour and could approach 3 to 4 inches per hour at times.

The FOX Forecast Center says thunder snow has also been observed near the lakeshores.

Thunder snow occurs when warm air is pulled into a snowstorm and causes the atmosphere to become more convective and unstable. The system can then produce lightning, similar to thunderstorms that occur during the spring and summer.

It’s also important to note that while it may be exciting to see lightning and hear thunder during a snowstorm, it’s still just as dangerous as it would be during severe weather.

Later Tuesday, winds will shift more to the northwest, which will send the Lake Ontario snow band south toward the Syracuse metro by midday. This snow band could be quite intense, with 1- to 2-inch per hour snowfall rates for a brief time.

The snow will then slide south of Syracuse during the afternoon. However, a new band of lake-effect snow is expected to develop late Tuesday afternoon and evening, and it may be pointed right around the Syracuse metro during the evening hours with another round of heavy snow.

This scenario remains a bit uncertain, but if it were to transpire, 5 to 8-plus inches would fall around Syracuse by Wednesday morning.

The snow band will finally lift northward and weaken during the pre-dawn hours early Wednesday morning before ending by Wednesday evening.