BUFFALO, N.Y. — As of January 31, 52.1 inches of snow has fallen at the National Weather Service Office in Buffalo at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. This ranks as the seventh-snowiest on record for the month, with records dating back to the late 1800s.
The current snowfall for the season is 62.8 inches, which is above average for late January. A reminder, though, that over 80 percent of that seasonal total fell in January, let alone within two weeks earlier this month.
This seasonal snowfall record was propelled by two days when over 17 inches of snow fell in the city. What's unique is that one of those days was a lake effect event and the other was synoptic, widespread snow that clobbered all of Western New York with between a foot to over two feet of snow. And now those days rank as the second and third-snowiest January days on record too.
One of those days was January 6, when 17.8 inches of snow fell over the city when a strong lake effect band of snow parked over the city for a day. That snow total also broke and set the daily snowfall record for the day.
And the second day was January 17, when 17.6 inches of snow fell in Buffalo. This also set the new daily snowfall record for the date.
These snowy days were usually follow by bitter cold ones. Temperatures fell into the single digits 12 times this month, including Buffalo's coldest day in almost three years on January 22, when it was one 1 degree that morning.
But this bitterly cold and snowy month has helped with ice formation on both Lake Erie and Ontario. As of January 30, over 87 percent of Lake Erie is ice covered and 27 percent for Lake Ontario. That's well above average for both lake for this time of year.
Weather records for the city of Buffalo are observed at the National Weather Service Office in Buffalo at the Buffalo Airport.
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