Wild footage of the “thundersnow” storm pummeling Buffalo recorded a stunning lightning strike on a residential street coated in snow, as the upstate region is set to get unprecedented quantities of snowfall through Sunday.
The brief but unsettling footage was sent to Twitter by meteorologist Dave Vogan just before midnight on Thursday.
“SNOWFALL IN SOUTH BUFFALO!! “IT SOUNDS LIKE A JOKE!” Vogan wrote.
New projections indicate that the violent storm will last through Friday and Saturday, as seen by Vogan’s footage.
According to the National Weather Service, Buffalo might get “record snowfall reaching four feet.”
In certain places, including as east of Lakes Erie and Ontario, snowfall rates of more than 3 inches per hour and rare lightning strikes are possible, according to the agency.
Forecasters said on Thursday that Buffalo has already received 6 inches of snow from the possibly historic storm.
Christopher Tate of FOX Weather told The Post on Friday morning, “An continuous, maybe historic lake effect snow event is still developing.”
Tata indicated that lake effect snow happens when low temperatures build over warmer lakes. In this instance, the air in northern New York is frigid, although Lakes Erie and Ontario “remain in the 40s and 50s.”
Tate stated, “Warm air has a tendency to climb through the atmosphere.” “The wind is driving the rising air towards the east, which is forcing the clouds to move towards Buffalo. They have time to ascend and gather moisture over 200 kilometers.
Thursday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a state of emergency for eleven counties surrounding her hometown, calling the storm a “big, major” catastrophe.
A snow-covered street in Buffalo on Thursday evening.
Fox Climate
“This degree of snow falling with such ferocity is what generates the risk caused by the inability to see on the roadways,” she explained. “When falling at such velocity, it is nearly difficult to clean the road so that it is safe for traffic. It will be quite some time before it is safe for motorists to return to the highways.”
Thursday at 4 p.m., commercial travel on portions of the New York State Thruway was prohibited, according to officials.
CNN said that as of Friday morning, six million people in New York and Wisconsin, as well as portions of Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, remain under snow alerts.