BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tuesday night residents in Erie County went to sleep thinking one thing and awoke to experience another, as unexpected travel bans were put in place in the early hours of Wednesday.
City and county officials justified the stark change Wednesday, saying meteorologists advised them that there would be just two inches of snow per hour — a manageable amount to plow — but it ended up being up to five inches in some areas.
“I got a call at 4:30 in the morning saying it's raining cats and dogs and Peppa Pigs in Orchard Park and Hamburg,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said.
The surprising overnight weather, which featured near-whiteout conditions and an additional 30 inches of snow in some parts of Western New York, caused a travel ban to be enacted in South Buffalo and other Erie County municipalities.
The seemingly never-ending snowfall brought the city to a halt again, as Buffalo Public Schools and USPS suspended operations and the Sabres pushed Wednesday’s game against the Blackhawks to Thursday.
Wednesday night seven communities remain restricted from the roads with driving bans in place from Lancaster to Hamburg.
The unexpected bans and snow accumulation led many to wonder why those restrictions weren’t put in place beforehand.
“If the total snowfall per hour ramps up to three to four to five inches, then we looked to put a travel ban in place,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said.
“No time did we have a forecast that said that there were going to be two to three feet received in some of these communities,” Poloncarz said.
While travel bans remain in place Wednesday night, officials say there are no plans to add additional ones and that they are hoping to lift the ones in place by Thursday morning if all goes as planned.
WNYers face unexpected travel bans during fifth day of snowfall
The county and city were hit with more snow than they originally expected Wednesday.