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CNN Live At Daybreak
Buffalo Buried Under Record Snow
Aired December 28, 2001 - 06:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Buffalo, New York is used to being blanketed by snow in the winter, but a one-two punch this week has made the record books. CNN's Holly Firfer is amid the drifts. Hey, how did you get the short straw this morning Holly?
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. I hope you're enjoying that nice warm studio.
COSTELLO: I am.
FIRFER: We're in Pembroke, New York, which is just east of the epicenter of the storm, if you will, just east of Buffalo and believe it or not about a month ago -- I would say just about four weeks ago the weather was in the 60's. People were actually golfing in shorts. But those who were dreaming of a white Christmas really got what they wished for.
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It's a familiar scene in upstate New York in the winter, three to four feet of snow on the ground. But what makes this year remarkably different from your average year is the amount of snow that fell in a 24-hour period. The storm that blew in on Christmas Eve left more than one million residents of Buffalo and its neighboring cities under two and a half feet of snow -- one for the record books.
On Thursday they measured the second biggest snowfall in one day. Weather forecasters blame this storm on the "lake effect," when large masses of cold air suck up moisture from Lake Erie, convert it to snow, and dump it on shore. Thursday a partial state of emergency was declared. Roads in a 50-mile vicinity were closed stranding miles of motorists.
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DAN FLISS, LANCASTER DISASTER COORDINATOR: There are some streets that we're having some problems with due to parked cars and our Department of Public Works has been doing an excellent job all day maintaining the main streets. The secondary streets are snow covered.
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FIRFER: Buffalo snowplows are working around the clock in 12- hour shifts to clear roads and highways. The airport was closed stranding hundreds of passengers and slowing air traffic nationwide. And residents are doing their part to get the city moving again.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been plowing snow all morning. Some streets haven't been touched.
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FIRFER: But officials are saying that on the upside this storm happened during a holiday week, so that schools and many businesses are closed, so not a lot of people have to venture out in this weather. The downside, however, there's nothing but snow in the next seven days -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And a lot of snow too. So it's time to beat up the weather person.
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