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NOAA Magazine || NOAA Home Page BUFFALO STORM SETS NEW SNOWFALL RECORDS IN DECEMBER
December 2001 goes into the record books as Buffalo's snowiest month on record with a whopping 82.7 inches. This far surpasses the old record of 68.4 inches set December 1985, and it's nearly four times the normal monthly snowfall of 24 inches. The snow depth on Dec. 28 at the Buffalo airport also set a new record of 44 inches. The previous record stood at 42 inches set February 5-6, 1977. All the December snow in Buffalo came at a time when the city did not see one flake in November, which is the first time that's ever happened. NOAA's National Weather Service Forecast Office in Buffalo began issuing advisories three days before the storm arrived. Tom Niziol, the science and operations officer at the Buffalo weather service office, said technology helped forecasters stay ahead of events. "The new technological suite available in all forecast offices was put to great use during the storm. The Doppler radar was able to pinpoint snowband location and relative intensity down to city blocks. NOAA satellite imagery augmented radar by delineating snowband location over the lakes. An extremely dedicated network of volunteer snow spotters updated the office regularly on snowfall amounts from the storm." The new suite of numerical models from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Camp Springs, Md., including the recently implemented 12km ETA model, was able to more accurately predict snowband location down to a finer scale. In addition, computer models run locally at the NWS office in Buffalo provided the best tools for predicting the location and movement of the snowbands. The workstation ETA model is an outgrowth of work performed by the NCEP Mesoscale Modelling Branch and the Science and Resource Center of the NWS Training Branch. The MM5 model was implemented at NWS Buffalo as a result of a cooperative project through COMET and the State University of New York. Locally-developed software specifically tuned to the Great Lakes also predicted the subtle movements of the snowband through time. Niziol said, "These tools, which are a result of an increased focus on research and new technology—along with tremendous forecaster dedication—are fine examples of the effort that is put forth to accomplish our mission, which is to issue forecast and warnings for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. The NWS office staff at Buffalo prides itself on service to the public, and this has been one of the most satisfying examples of such an effort." With winter only getting started, the NWS staff in Buffalo is poised for the next snow event. Relevant Web Sites
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