Buffalo, NY -- Our area is one of the snowiest in the country. And looking at some communities around Western New York, and just how much snow we've had to shovel over a recent decade, it's no surprise.
If you live in Perrysburg, you've had to shovel 2,113 inches of snow there, that was among the higher amounts. A lower amount was in Olean which received 677 inches, North Tonawanda 739 inches, Niagara Falls 760 inches of snow, Buffalo 860 inches, Franklinville 1,033, Wales 1,186 inches, and Warsaw received 1,615 inches of snow over a decade.
And believe it or not, these snow numbers aren't actually as high as they could be. Some of the snowiest cities in Western New York, like Perrysburg and Franklinville, are actually seeing a slight decrease in snowfall over the past 10 to 15 years.
This also includes places such as Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, and Buffalo, where winter snow totals are also varying quite a bit year to year.
More recently we go up and down with snowfall each winter. For example, when looking at the past 16 years of winter snow for the city, there can be one year with record LOW snow like in 2011 with only 36.7 inches for the ENTIRE season, but the year before that had TRIPLE the amount of snow.
The snow pattern since then has been up and down.
In 2011 and 2012, the winter snow was well-below average, then the next two years (2013 and 2014) were well-above average. Then the next two years after that (2015 and 2016), were well below average with snow. If this trend holds true, this coming winter may have well above average snow.
Another interesting note, one spot is actually seeing a slight increase in snow over time. That place is Olean.
Finally, numbers show that the usual snowbelt areas where the most lake effect snow falls in the higher elevations of southern Erie county and into northeastern Chautauqua county and northern Cattaraugus counties, includes places like Perrysburg, and Colden, and Wales.
Bu,t the snow belt does extend further east, into the high elevations of Wyoming county. It's here, that in some years, certain cities get even more snow than Perrysburg, including places like Warsaw and Attica. These areas also get similar lake effect snow activity and additional snowfall from what we call "orographic uplift". That's when the air continues to rise upward in the hills causing the air to further cool and condense and produce more snowfall.