SouthBuffaloSteve

Narrow quick moving but intense snow band pushing through metro Buffalo. Very intense snowfall in core of that band. Sabres game just let out and traffic on 190 downtown is at a crawl... .

Erie just refused to call it quits this year! .

Some videos clips and pictures from earlier today...

Great video from the Niagara River. They caught a pretty big section of the boom floating down stream. Wish I would have went up there but all day they said the park was closed off... .

I’d be really surprised to see the whole thing gone tomorrow. It’s designed to sink under the water during a seiche and let the ice flow over. I guess maybe a whole section could have come lose but I think most of it will resurface. Here is a clip from the seiche last year. 2 or 3 individual pontoons came loose during that storm. .

Right now there has only been one of the pontoons spotted down stream. It’s not uncommon for 1 or 2 to come loose during an ice seiche. Won’t know the full damage done till tomorrow when the water level recedes and the boom cones back to the surface.

Water level at Toledo continues to drop now more than 2 feet below LWD and Buffalo continues to bounce around the 100” mark. Flash Flood Warning now for a large Ice Jam setting up in the Niagara River near the power plant. Sections of the boom were seen floating down the river... Surge has really pushed up the water level in the Buffalo River and is very close to flooding into portions of the first ward and river works park area. .

On a good note looks like we missed any real extreme destruction with this storm. Cool sights down by the lake. This video from Fort Erie was really impressive!!! .

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Ughh this bites all my go to spots are closed off! .

Windy as heck downtown and now the snow is coming in. Feels like little needles when the snow hits you at 70mph. Seeing some minor damage nothing crazy yet. Traffic lights down. Some large branches and siding. Seiche really didn’t go extreme. Looks like the ice walled in around the harbor. It’s crashing on top of the ice sheet but not making it to shore... .

Toledo has a little hiccup earlier but is still steadily dropping actually below LWD right now... Buffalo is gonna keep rising especially now that the ice is moving over the boom. .

You out chasing? Im gonna head down to the harbor shortly and see what’s going down... .

City is getting crushed. Fire scanner is non stop with calls right now with wires down trees into houses... .

Ice Boom has been breached... .

4’ rise on Lake Erie in the last 90 minutes... .

True front has not pushed through yet. Probably in next hour... Should rapidly go down hill from there... Huge lake drop in Toledo already taking place... Think NWS was a bit fast in their timing. They had winds picking up around noon and peaking at the worst from 2-6 ish. Most models were 2-4 hours slower with the worst winds not hitting until 4-8pm ish time frame. Not sure if the sunshine effect that was to enhance the mixing would be somewhat muted as we are now closer to sunset then midday? .

WOW! Well Good Morning! .

Link for the ice boom and upper Niagara River cams.. https://iceboom.nypa.gov .

As bad as the winds will be I’m really concerned about the lake shore flood potential... current forecast is for a 9-11 foot storm surge. This is impossible to model with the ice cover. Here is what canal side looks like when at 7.5-8 feet. If we hit the higher end it could get quiet scary. Also good to note at the 12’ mark canal side would be under water and the lake surge would start to flood the harbor center area and push towards downtown... NYZ001-010-019-085-241000- /O.CON.KBUF.LS.W.0001.190224T1200Z-190225T0900Z/ Niagara-Northern Erie-Chautauqua-Southern Erie- 652 PM EST Sat Feb 23 2019 ...LAKESHORE FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM SUNDAY TO 4 AM EST MONDAY... * LOCATIONS...Lake Erie shore in Erie and Chautauqua counties and the Upper Niagara River in Erie and Niagara counties. * LAKE SHORE FLOODING...Powerful southwest winds will gust up to 75 mph. This will result in the water level at Buffalo rising to 9 to 11 feet above low water datum. This rise will also break up ice on Lake Erie and result in significant ice movement. * TIMING...From 7 AM Sunday to 4 AM EST Monday. * IMPACTS...Lakeshore flooding is expected along the Lake Erie shoreline, including the Buffalo Harbor and waterfront. If water levels exceed 10 feet above low water datum flooding may occur in the Old First Ward section of Buffalo and at Canalside. Rising waters will also push ice chunks onshore, potentially damaging structures. Ice will also get pushed across the ice boom and into the Upper Niagara River resulting in damage along the Upper Niagara River shoreline. The ice may dam up at river outlets and result in flooding near river mouths. .

This guy NEVER hypes up a storm so to see this is concerning... .

Blah! There goes my first 3 stops for chasing tomorrow. .

Crazy how well this storm got locked in so far out on all the models. Nothing like the suspense waiting for this to hit. Local media is hyping the holy hell out of this storm. .

Got my days all screwed up. Not use to a warning being posted so early. .

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