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Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News
Paul Huttner

Buffalo snow topped 81 inches in 5 days; Twin Cities all-winter average is 51

2-day all-time snowfall record for New York

Western New York snowfall totals
Western New York snowfall totals
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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We feel pretty good about handling our snow in Minnesota, but we got nothin’ on Buffalo, N.Y.

Buffalo’s extreme five-day snow blitz produced 81.2 inches of snow near Hamburg, N.Y., just south of Buffalo. Orchard Park next door picked up 80 inches.

Erie County New York snowfall totals
Erie County, N.Y., snowfall totals
National Weather Service office, Buffalo, N.Y.

New 2-day snowfall record?

Official state records take time to verify. But it looks like the Hamburg, N.Y., area picked up 72.4 inches of snow in 48 hours. If verified, that would beat New York state’s current two-day snowfall record of 69.3 inches near Highmarket from Jan. 5-6, 1988.

Here’s more on how the latest snow event compares to records in New York from the Northeast Regional Climate Center.

Keeping in mind that all data from this storm are preliminary, reports are still coming in, there is a process for declaring official records, and it is important to make direct comparisons (e.g., comparing two-day snowfall to two-day snowfall and not storm total snowfall), we can make a couple of observations.

The official 24-hour snowfall record for New York stands at 50 inches on February 1, 1966, in Camden. Looking at unofficial data in the Northeast Regional Climate Center’s database, currently the greatest daily report from this storm was 46.2 inches near Elma on November 19.

The Northeast Regional Climate Center’s database shows that the greatest unofficial two-day snowfall in New York was 69.3 inches from January 5-6, 1988, at near Highmarket. The CoCoRaHS website currently shows a preliminary two-day snowfall total of 72.4 inches for November 18 to 19 near Hamburg.

The Northeast Regional Climate Center’s database shows that the greatest unofficial three-day snowfall in New York was 86.5 inches from November 18 to 20, 2014, near East Aurora. The CoCoRaHS website currently shows a preliminary three-day snowfall total of 76.0 inches for November 18 to 20 near Hamburg.

More snow than a Minnesota winter in 5 days

Just for some perspective, the 30-year annual average snowfall in the Twin Cities is 51.2 inches.

So areas south of Buffalo picked up 30 inches more snow than an average winter in the Twin Cities. In five days.

So the next time we think the snow is heavy in Minnesota, remember Buffalo.