LAKE   EFFECT   STORM   DELAWARE
Sun.-Mon. December 26-27, 1999
STORM   SUMMARY

After a brief respite of only one day, another cold front surged down across the region on Sunday...re-igniting the Lake Effect machine.  Although most of the region had snow showers from Sunday afternoon through much of Monday, some locally heavy snowbands set up on a west to northwest wind off both Lakes late Sunday and Sunday night. The heaviest snow fell close to Lake Ontario from Orleans county to near Syracuse...with 6 to 9 inches across the Rochester metro area. Up to a foot fell over higher elevations of the Tug Hill as well.

Off Lake Erie...most of the area from the South Towns to the Pennsylvania line caught at least 3 inches...with several areas in the Western Southern Tier and extreme southern Erie county receiving over 6". There were some isolated reports of as much as a foot in ski areas such as Holiday Valley in Ellicottville and Kissing Bridge in Colden. Less than an inch fell across metro Buffalo...once again escaping the bulk of the activity.  The machine shut down late Monday with a lowering inversion and light winds.

This event was a marginal one...but since it did have an impact on the heavily populated Rochester area...it rates as a “2-Flake” storm.

Some representative snowfall totals for the event are as follows:

LAKE ERIE..           LAKE ONTARIO...

.Ellicottville.  11        Highmarket..... 10
.Little Valley...8        Ontario...........   9
.Jamestown......6       Webster...........  7
.Alfred.............6         Rochester......... 5 to 8
.Sinclairville    5        Sandy Creek .... 6
.Colden............5          Edwards...........  5
.Buffalo...........1

Flake Scale **