Governor Hochul Declares State of Emergency In Western New York

Over the last few days, weather officials from various news stations and the National Weather Service have been ringing the alarm about a large lake-effect snowstorm heading to Western and Central New York. That storm, expected to impact the region severely, will deposit several feet of snow on New York.

There is so much snow that it is expected to be very difficult to travel around northern Pennsylvania and Western and central New York.

To keep the people of the Empire State safe, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has issued a State of Emergency for parts of the state and closed parts of New York's major interstates.

This is a common lake effect storm for us, but we're encouraging everybody to keep monitoring. And I have done my part to make sure that we have National Guard on standby. We have almost 6,000 utility crews ready to restore power if necessary. The good news may be that we don't expect the high winds that would normally bring power lines down.
-Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York State

The counties of Allegany, Erie, Cattaraugaus, Chautauqua, Genessee, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, St. Lawrence, & Wyoming Counties are all under this state of emergency. In addition to that, the New York State Thruway is closed to traffic from the PA state line near Ripley, New York, all the way through Corning, New York, effective immediately.

Traffic on the highway before those exits is required to exit the interstate, and traffic already on the thruway will be directed to the nearest exit as soon as possible based on weather conditions.

Heavy snow has already fallen south of Buffalo, New York, and along the Lake Ontario shore near Watertown, New York, with even more snow expected to fall over the next few days. Visibility is near zero in some areas, with conditions expected to worsen before they calm down.

The water temperatures in both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are well above normal, those relatively warm waters coupled with the cold area coming in the storm will increase the likelihood of even more lake effect snow to fall on the region.

READ MORE: Are You Prepared For A Snowstorm To Hit Buffalo, New York?

With more than 4 feet of snow forecast to fall in Western New York and nearly 6 feet in the Watertown, New York area, all we can do is hunker down and do our best to ride out the storm.