The event began late in the evening of the 30th on a northwest flow with intense snows off Huron staying west of New York for awhile but then swinging north across Chautauqua county after midnight.  Strong localized bands dropped a foot on a narrow area from Sodus to Fair Haven off Lake Ontario.

The winds then backed to a 250-260 vector during Thursday morning and bands set up just south of Buffalo and extended into Wyoming county. This activity remained nearly stationary all day until drifting south during the evening as winds veered a bit.  It shut off Friday morning in response to a ridge building across the area and producing a strong subsidence inversion.

Off Lake Ontario...a strong band set up Thursday afternoon in Jefferson county after an earlier lull due to directional shear and surfcae ridging. This band dropped snow at 2-3 inches per hour as it slowly settled south across the Tug Hill at night and eventually dropped a few inches in Syracuse area before shearing and weakening by midday Friday.

This event had good ingredients...very high cap...little shear...strong instability and decent moisture. Shear did increase enough to break up Ontario band for awhile Thursday...and low level winds went calm...which inhibited a well defined convergence zone...but flow increased again with little shear Thursday night...enabling the band to re-establish itself well.

The greatest amount was 33" at Montague...with 2-foot amounts on the Tug Hill and also over Buffalo’s south Towns. Over a foot fell over most of southern Erie County and also over a small area near Sodus. None fell in Buffalo though.