Comments
ngfdsa t1_j1vvr5d wrote
Not this time. Usually when you see 6 feet of snow in Buffalo it is mainly in the towns to the south of Buffalo. This time we got an insane amount of snow in the north, the south, and the city proper. We have not seen accumulation this high across this much area in 50 years, possibly ever. Add that to the hurricane winds and you can see the problem.
There is so much snow and it's so densely packed that snow plows are getting stuck frequently, myself and some of my neighbors had to dig one out in our neighborhood and I've seen many other stories like that. It's to the point where they are just putting it into dump trucks and driving it away and using backhoes to move it around. Absolutely insane storm
Eudaimonics t1_j1vwy55 wrote
Right, definitely wasn’t a normal storm.
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TechyDad t1_j1w9oo6 wrote
From what I heard, some people went out of their houses to shovel and the wind/snow were so bad that they had no visibility. They couldn't find their way back to their houses and wound up freezing to death. It's insane to think that some of the people who died night have been mere feet away from safety, but couldn't see it and didn't know which direction to walk to get back.
Flick3rFade t1_j1whku1 wrote
You’ve posted this a couple of times now and I’m curious where you heard it. I’m a life-long Buffalonian and it’s never THAT bad. For sure, the poor visibility can make driving treacherous but no one gets hopelessly lost in their own driveway.
TechyDad t1_j1wr7xy wrote
My wife told me that she heard this on the local news. It's possible that she misheard it or that our local (NY but not Buffalo area) news misreported something. I tried doing some searches and couldn't find any corroboration. There are SO many news articles that it could have been flooded out by the hundreds of other stories about this storm. Still, I think I'm going to stop repeating this until I can find a better source corroborating this account.
Flick3rFade t1_j1wrzii wrote
It’s understandable that things could get blown out of proportion, especially if you haven’t experienced our weather yourself. Good on ya for at least attempting to verify it though!
Zman6258 t1_j1v2hjx wrote
Buffalo native here. Wasn't around back in '77 but I absolutely remember Snowvember 2014, and even though we had to bring in the National Guard with bucket loaders because plows couldn't cut through six feet of snow, people were just out and about the moment they could get out of their driveway. We've dealt with snow, and so many people that I know figured this was just gonna be another snowstorm.
The real killer was the cold, but more specifically, it was the wind. We don't regularly get 60mph winds even during storms, and wind chill that intense is a whole different kind of cold. Normally I'm sweating by the time I finish snowblowing when I wear boots, snow pants, and a jacket over shorts and a t-shirt; this time around, had to add flannel pajamas and a hoodie to the rest and I still had to take a break halfway through to warm up. So many other people felt the same way, until they got out and the wind was just sapping heat like nobody's business and blowing snow almost completely horizontal.
Famous1107 t1_j1v79yl wrote
That wind did not stop for three days. Going out there to clear drifts on my furnace pipes. Just got the chills thinking about it. Your right with the wind. The wind created a white out condition, where you could not see a foot Infront of your face.
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Muscled_Daddy t1_j1vzsu5 wrote
You basically just had a C1 hurricane parked on you for half a week. That’s insane.
Here in Toronto - We also got the cold and some of the wind. But nothing like you all across the lake. Absolute insanity.
And its all going to melt next weekend when it hits 55F+ for us… which means the lake won’t freeze so more insanity is coming.
TechyDad t1_j1w9c5v wrote
>And its all going to melt next weekend when it hits 55F+ for us… which means the lake won’t freeze so more insanity is coming.
This is what some people don't realize when they say "global warming can't be real because look at all that snow!" Setting aside that weather isn't climate, warmer weather can actually mean more snow - especially in places like Buffalo. If the lakes froze over, lake effect snow would be lessened. (I don't know if it would have helped in this storm specifically, just talking generally.) However, with warmer weather, the lakes don't freeze which means more lake effect snow.
deucetastic t1_j1wyhw8 wrote
absolutely wouldn’t have had as much snow, but the lake never really freezes this early anyway…. Mediterranean of the North America, coming to a Great Lake near you
random20190826 t1_j1wufsz wrote
Fellow GTA resident here. On December 23, the day started as a rainy day, barely above freezing. Then, things got bad, with the snow and wind. I am WFH, but my mother and sister work outside the home. School was cancelled for all kids in York Region on that day.
You know what I was terrified of? If the power went out, we would have been dead. I don't have a backup generator, and even though I have a gas-based heating system, the controls run on electricity. If the power goes out, no amount of gas can heat my home. Fortunately, the power was never disrupted.
In storms like this, things that cause mass deaths are power outages and car accidents. Low visibility due to blowing snow. Car crashes haven taken multiple lives in multiple states and in BC.
Muscled_Daddy t1_j1wyfqx wrote
You would die?! Do you live in an older house? We haven’t even turned heat on in our condo yet. We have the fan for circulation but our building is so over insulated that we don’t really experience a ton of heat loss.
If you’re at risk of dying from the cold from a power outage you absolutely need emergency supplies - like a kerosene space heater, hand warmers, and investment in a generator (if you own a home). If you’re seriously at that big a risk of dying from the cold in your own home… please, please prepare for the worst.
random20190826 t1_j1xauxx wrote
Well, the home is not old. It was built in 2006.
How did you manage to survive without heat when it was -10C outside?
Power outages are rare enough where if they happen, we can stay at a hotel.
sea_bird t1_j1xmijy wrote
I'm in Buffalo and we didn't have power or heat for 36 hours. It sucked and we were cold, but I can assure you we're not dead.
PlumLion t1_j1z7ir6 wrote
People are downvoting you and telling you you’re wrong, but not really giving you any suggestions. I’ve been through extended power outages in extreme cold several times and I can tell you that once your instinct to keep warm kicks in you start finding ways to stay warm enough to get by.
Everybody wears extra clothing and you make a big all-family (and pets) blanket fort in the warmest small room in the house. You hang heavy blankets or tablecloths or whatever you have over windows to keep the heat in, but if you get any reasonable amount of sunshine you pull the cloths off those windows to take advantage of solar heat gain. You start digging around in the junk drawer to find those disposable hand heaters you bought for watching your kids football games. If you have a gas cooktop you make endless cups of tea and hot chocolate and find excuses to bake bread and huge pans of lasagna. You discover that a jar candle can bring the temperature of a small room up by several degrees, so you keep one lit in a secure spot whenever there’s an adult awake to keep an eye on it. You eat a lot of carbs and keep everyone moving to stay warm.
I’m not telling you it doesn’t really suck, but you become resourceful really fast
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SynthFrog t1_j1xtxio wrote
Tons of people suffered without power for days (including my brother). As cold as it was, it wasn't cold enough to be a death sentence for most people without heat (inside a building). So I wouldn't day you'd definitely be dead. Still a scary and dangerous situation though. That's just for the lack of heat alone. Of course there are so many other dangers with being stuck in a home with no power.
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MontyAtWork t1_j1vsnxd wrote
I cannot imagine that level of cold. I did the Grayson Highlands November of last year and at night the winds were probably 40mph at 20° or so, and that was the coldest I've ever experienced. Coming back from that trip I had to rethink my entire cold weather backpacking and layering system to include outer wind break layers, which I'd never needed in other 20° times.
osiris775 t1_j1w4se8 wrote
I've always been curious about world population and the expansion of human kind on earth. I am not trying to be insensitive to current conditions. As a California native, I've always wondered how people live where they live. Phoenix. Buffalo. Minnesota. Las Vegas.
Like...why did people CHOOSE to live there?
SpaceMonkeyOnABike t1_j1w6vmw wrote
>Like...why did people CHOOSE to live there?
For cold places it was often the availability of red meat and hides of animals. Both of which are valuable for human development.
osiris775 t1_j1w80zu wrote
I understand that part. But a place like Las Vegas is literally a created city. I understand the nefarious underground, but eventually, 2mill+ still had to CHOOSE to be there. The populations of humanity, and again, not to be insensitive to circumstances, it has always been a curiosity as to...not how humans ended up where they are. But WHY are humans still where they are
Maybe I'm asking an evolutionary question?
Kjartanski t1_j1wrok6 wrote
Because by leveraging the resources of other areas, such as water, and power for cooling, it was made liveable, and then sustained by economic activity using those resources
thirstyross t1_j1xadf0 wrote
> But a place like Las Vegas is literally a created city
What city isn't a "created city"? Think the answer is the same for any city.
Alcopaulics t1_j1xdiqr wrote
Nah every other city, people just coincidentally arranged themselves in a grid. It was bizarre
osiris775 t1_j1xjcy7 wrote
Yes. But there was choice and reason. San Francisco, for example was built on the gold rush.
I understand there are nuances. What I have always been curious about is (Phoenix as example), why would you MOVE here?
Humans are amazing creatures. Most of history teaches us that civilizations are close to water and fertile land. That makes sense
I've been to Dallas/Fort worth/Arlington area several years in a row for job training. The local people didn't understand how I could live in Cali. We have earthquakes. I couldn't understand how/why they live in Texas. They have tornado "SEASON "
of-matter t1_j1wt64r wrote
Buffalo and Niagara falls used to be centers for heavy industry. Logging, steel manufacturing, chemical manufacturing were all huge industries there.
If you're asking about why groups of people have different personal preferences, I'd have to assume it's related to our ability as a species to adapt to different environments.
SynthFrog t1_j1xvuhy wrote
>As a California native, I've always wondered how people live where they live. >Phoenix. Buffalo. Minnesota. Las Vegas. > >Like...why did people CHOOSE to live there?
You can say that about anywhere though. Parts of the west coast have have wild fires, volcanoes, droughts, earthquakes. And just for the states in general, you also have tornados, hurricanes, blizzards. There's freezing temps, really hot temps, high humidity. Some areas have more dangerous wildlife. Each area has it's pros and cons, so I thinks it's just a case of people learning to adapt to the cons to have access to the pros.
For a historic point of view about why people would live in the Buffalo/Niagara region... the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal.
justcallmesensei t1_j1y838a wrote
Hey now, Minnesota isn’t THAT bad. Have you ever even been here?
Zman6258 t1_j1x133x wrote
Cheap housing, right next to the border, decent amount of finance sector and manufacturing jobs.
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khamrabaevite t1_j1xyqx9 wrote
Sounds like Wyoming, but with more snow.
rukh999 t1_j1uiqy8 wrote
I heard it's up to 35 now, likely to go quite a bit higher.
stuiephoto t1_j1utexp wrote
They are only counting the deaths when they arrive to the morgue. There are a LOT of bodies on a list for transport still. I'd be surprised if the number ends at under 100.
bigcalvesarein t1_j1vplq6 wrote
If you go in the buffalo subreddit people are listening in police scanners. Expect the death toll to rise quite soon
rukh999 t1_j1vufaf wrote
Yep, that's one of the reasons I'm expecting it to go much higher. I'm not listening myself, I think it'd be too depressing but people are constantly reporting more and more.
UnknownAverage t1_j1wszp6 wrote
Yep, I shudder to think about people who don't regularly communicate with others, who may be dead in their homes, not to be discovered until someone notices their absence and checks on them after the storm has passed and the roads are open.
Kristalderp t1_j1vo78d wrote
For people who don't understand how bad this storm was: Buffalo receives on average 96.4" of snow total for the winter season.
This weekend alone Buffalo got 94".
We all knew the storm was gonna be bad, and change (especially when it tracked up to Canada, where im at) But this storm rapidly changed from "wow it's heckin windy" to "I can't see 1ft from my face, it dropped from 38f to sub-zero in under 4 hours, the snow wont stop AND it's STILL WINDY--THERE GOES MY ROOF SHINGLES" all within friday. I was watching a storm chaser on Friday over in Fort Erie and he said it was horrible, dangerous and in some areas the snow was blowing and accumulating so fast, some snow drifts were +6ft tall in just 4 hours. It's mindboggling.
Sadly, the more they dig, the more bodies they're gonna find, as well as doing neighbourhood safety checks on the elderly. They usually die first in storms like this due to no power, no heat, and nobody checking on them. So they die to the cold or C02 poisoning because they can't clear their furnace piping, bad fireplaces, bad ventilation on generators...etc.
If you got elderly neighbors or family and you got a heat source/power; help them.
ManiacalShen t1_j1vqky0 wrote
>But this storm rapidly changed from "wow it's heckin windy" to "I can't see 1ft from my face, it dropped from 38f to sub-zero in under 4 hours, the snow wont stop AND it's STILL WINDY--THERE GOES MY ROOF SHINGLES" all within friday.
That sounds like The Children's Blizzard, which killed over 200 people in 1888. Mostly kids walking home from school, but also some people whose shelters couldn't withstand the winds and who ran out of things to burn, if they could start a fire at all. There's a good book about it, but the point is it got so bad, so fast, people got lost five yards outside their own front doors.
I don't think anyone is really ready for a storm like that. I wouldn't be.
Kristalderp t1_j1vtedn wrote
With our current weather forcasts we knew it was gonna be a nasty snow storm due to the lake effect (I'm in Montreal. More north-east. We got freezing rain and then snow after and didn't get the lake effect whiteouts) but it turned from a "this is a big blizzard" to "oh fuck this is real" when the wind kicked up.
I'm just thankful I have a fireplace in case I ever do lose power so I could stay warm and cook. My family learned after we dealt with the 1998 ice storm here in Montreal. It crippled our power grid and we were out of power for 3+ weeks.
Now we refuse to buy a home without a wood burning fireplace/stove as we don't wanna freeze like that again.
imr1der t1_j1w8saj wrote
No, we did not get 94 inches this weekend. The seasonal total reached that amount, which is a lot of snow. Big difference, though!
Kristalderp t1_j1wc0ic wrote
I stand corrected, it's 92 inches. But still a massive amount of snow! https://twitter.com/NWSBUFFALO/status/1607150199536771074
JollyRancher29 t1_j1wqem8 wrote
You’re still wrong. That’s 92” THIS WINTER. Buffalo also had 40ish inches on November 19, though it wasn’t as cold and windy. They got roughly 50” this weekend.
imr1der t1_j1yrydv wrote
we really don't need to exaggerate...
Capt_Blackmoore t1_j1w6qb7 wrote
four day snowfall at Buff airport is showing 51.5 inches.
Still an obscene amount of snow for the amount of time.
TechyDad t1_j1wa7ob wrote
>" to "I can't see 1ft from my face,
From what I've heard, this proved deadly for a few people. They went out to shovel, got turned around, and literally couldn't see where their house was. They died from the cold because they literally couldn't see where their house was. They could have been 5 feet away - a couple seconds walk - from safety, but they couldn't tell which way to go.
imsabbath84 t1_j1vsy9u wrote
yeah the extremely fast change in weather is what got most people caught in it. I started work at 6am that day, it was around a nice 40 degrees and raining. By the time it hit 9am, the temp was down to 20 and snowing pretty hard. Wind hadnt gotten crazy yet, but by 10:30am, it got insane.
ChaluppaBatmanJr t1_j1wunry wrote
I thought they had a no travel/driving ban? I understand that a woman died on her way to grocery store?
Kristalderp t1_j1wvgtc wrote
People will go out for their jobs and to the store as they think it's "not that bad" but it is. And it got worse.
Happens with floods, hurricanes...it's sad 😔 with snowstorms like this it's worse as no plows= walls of snow blowing about and nobody can move. So people are trapped in their cars in subzero temperatures and keep the car on to stay warm...but die due to carbon monoxide poisoning as they don't clear the tailpipe of the snow. Lots of people trapped in their cars died this way.
ButterflyAttack t1_j1xxis8 wrote
For those of us who are only familiar with Celsius, I've just checked and that is absolutely fucking freezing. Wind chill must be crazy. Wouldn't take someone long to die outside in those conditions. Hope you guys can stay safe and warm.
Animallover4321 t1_j1uivxa wrote
I don’t understand how so many people got stranded on the road? It’s not like in ‘78 where they didn’t have accurate weather forecasts wasn’t this predicted?
digitelle t1_j1ulgqi wrote
Everyone thought they had time to get where they are going.
I think the biggest issue are those who have employment. I highly doubt many jobs just let people go before the storm and likely many left during not realizing how bad it had got.
Animallover4321 t1_j1um3im wrote
Jobs I can see it’s amazing how many bosses don’t give a shit. When I was a cashier my boss wanted me to come in when the roads were closed in case someone suddenly needed printer paper. Too bad we can’t hold corporations accountable.
ThinkThankThonk t1_j1umgv0 wrote
I lived in Boston during the marathon bombing and they wanted me to come in to work during the lockdown/manhunt the day after. They do not give a shit.
Animallover4321 t1_j1uodyl wrote
That seems like a safe time to be out. I remember that day I lived well outside of the lockdown area so mom and I decided to go out shopping the helicopters circling overhead made us realize we may have made a mistake.
Lindsay_Laurent t1_j1unuij wrote
Well what else are you going to do that day? Might as well come to work!
Hokuboku t1_j1usxw4 wrote
I knew people when I worked at Target who got stranded in the snow because corporate did not close down the stores due to the weather.
Its disgusting how some companies and bosses expect people in no matter what. And a lot of people are too scared of losing their jobs to say no
Blossomie t1_j1wh943 wrote
A literal majority of the nation lives paycheck-to-paycheck. They’re not scared of losing the job, they’re scared of them and their families going hungry or homeless, which is very likely to happen if income is lost when you’re living on the razor’s edge between getting by and perishing.
Hokuboku t1_j1wi4e1 wrote
Oh, I know but thank you for driving it home further. I came from that level of poverty. My dad losing his job lost us our house
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imsabbath84 t1_j1vs6yk wrote
> I highly doubt many jobs just let people go before the storm and likely many left during not realizing how bad it had got
yup. i work for a vendor and they told us to all be home by noon. i left my store at 11am and it took me an hour to get home, having zero visibility through the 2nd half of my drive. the stores themselves were staying open until 2pm, so all of those people were driving home in absolutely horrible conditions.
owls_unite t1_j1vwq5z wrote
There was a pretty big snow storm in my neck of the woods in February of last year. One colleague, despite weather warnings, took the very last available bus. It took him two and a half hours to make it in, no way back home for two days ... and you bet everyone was told to look to him as an example of a dutiful worker bee.
Stranger2306 t1_j1wbux4 wrote
I don't understand this. By Wednesday, I was glued to weather news and had stocked up on food to last the weekend. My mind boggles that people wanted to drive around in Friday.
TechyDad t1_j1wajlj wrote
The good part about working from home: My boss can't tell me to travel on dangerous roads to get to work.
Of course, then there's the downside. Can't call in saying you'll be late because the roads are terrible. Unless my house's stairs are packed with snow (in which case I have a much bigger problem), I can get to work no matter how bad the weather.
youmustthinkhighly t1_j1ulk50 wrote
Bad weather can turn into death weather fairly quick…. I think part of it is that even in the worst weather in buffalo people are driving and shopping… most modern cars can handle snow, and ice.. everyone has winter coat and life doesn’t stop in bad weather…. People in buffalo are used to it…
But stuff like your Jacket rated to 20 below now had to be rated to 70 below.. your car that handled the snow fine now has to be a tractor or lifted truck with snow chains and a plow to move two feet, your house that you could shovel yourself now requires tractors and dump trucks to remove the snow…
Your out shopping and it usually takes 45 mins to an hour to run your errands… well a normal winter day is now snow Armageddon while you were in the store…
It happens quickly.
Sweet-Sale-7303 t1_j1ukm5y wrote
People dont like to listen. We had people stranded on the road where i am when we got 3 feet of snow.
ChaluppaBatmanJr t1_j1wv1lv wrote
Can't help those that don't listen. Tired of this country's delusional obsession with "independence". People seem like they don't want to "listen" because it's a sign of compliance and heaven forbid you take your government's warning.
ButterflyAttack t1_j1xyixt wrote
If it only put their own lives at risk I'd say that was their choice. But they are also risking the lives of people who might try to rescue them. And then there's the ones who take their kids on these crazy trips.
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WWDubz t1_j1ulw29 wrote
People being forced to work, and then die
Capitalism and shitty humans as bosses
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Spirited_Annual_9407 t1_j1v5yoe wrote
Not all people have the privilege to stay at home or they might not think that the situation could turn deadly. Let’s say you are driving and you get stuck or slip of the road, getting snowed in can happen suprisingly fast. If it is somebody who didn’t assess the strom to be deadly, it is likely they don’t have any helpful survival gear in the car either
FatBottomPurls t1_j1va8x2 wrote
I couldn't see the street in front of my house for 36 hours. I really didn't expect that. Luckily we prepared and didnt have a reason to leave.
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Capt_Blackmoore t1_j1w5mzc wrote
Buffalo already did that. not a single Pizza hut since 2020.
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SynthFrog t1_j1xxqav wrote
Some people are stupid and just don't listen. Every time there's a snow storm, you get some sarcastic jerks who go around saying, "Wow, it's like people in Buffalo never saw snow before," as people go out and try to get prepared. They think that just because we're used to snow around here, it can't present problems. So these people don't get prepared. They don't have food, or gas, or meds, and then decide they can handle the storm and get stuck.
Some people were still forced to go to work. I'm not talking about essential workers either. So imagine you have to go into work because (no can't take off and can't risk losing your job), so you go in. Now the weather gets crazy here. It changes pretty rapidly at times. Not only that, but 5 minutes away might be experiencing completely different weather than where you are currently. So you could be a work and the weather could be pretty okay there. You start heading home, and all of a sudden, there are high winds, a lot of snow, and low visibility.
Finally, there are people who get into medical emergencies or have family/friends who do. Also, people who had zero power and are freezing in their homes (my brother's place was 20°F all weekend). People may decide it's worth the risk to get to a medical facility, a shelter, or a hotel because their life (or a loved one's life) is in danger anyways if they stay where they are.
Grouchy_Occasion2292 t1_j1vjmm3 wrote
They were probably homeless people who lived in their cars... I assume most deaths from being inside your car are actually not you being stranded but homeless people.
dew22 t1_j1v23ef wrote
It’s gonna be more than that, felt like every hour there was DOA on the scanner last night
BurrStreetX t1_j1vsuav wrote
Im in Iowa, so Im "used" to snow.
But this year sucks. Im just ranting here but i got COVID a week ago finally and it made me feel like HELL. Legit the worst I have ever felt. That first day, I went to go through the drivethrough to get some cold medicine and my car wouldnt start because of the cold. Its been a week now, I feel like shit, and my car wont start, and DoorDash isnt running here as its a small town, so theres legit 0 way to get shit delivered. On top of that, now there is like 3 feet of snow all aaround my car in the parking lot. And was without power for 2 days. On the plus side, I havent smoked or drank in 9 days so thats a plus. I just really hate snow and winter. It makes everything else 10x harder to do.
Just, man, this year will go down in my brain is probably the worst winter so far. Im glad im not dead of course, and this story sucks for those affected. I just needed to vent.
rukh999 t1_j1vvbjc wrote
I ended up finally getting COVID a few weeks ago. I was working in person in hospitals before any vaccines existed and never got it.
I was either lucky or unlucky it was while I also was sick with the flu. I just woke up one day and besides the flu aches I felt just totally bizarre. I'd describe it as sparkly brained. Then I noticed I couldn't taste the goat cheese I put in a salad. I took a COVID test and it came back positive. So I don't really know what symptoms I had were from the flu and which were from COVID but I basically worked (from home) and slept 14 hours a day for a week and a half. I had congestion for like 2 weeks after and still do a little too. Just crappy all around. And then I'm here in Amherst (N. Buffalo) in Blurricane central.
Pretty crap winter, but it could have been so much worse. People are still dying of COVID. People lost power and some got stuck out of their house. So despite all this, I still feel a bit fortunate.
redyellowblue5031 t1_j1wcqj5 wrote
Triple dip on La Niña isn’t messing around. The pressure gradient and size of the air masses involved in this storm was insane.
A retrospective on this storm will be very interesting to look back on, hopefully some lessons can be gleaned for future storm preparation even if an event this powerful is relatively rare.
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dragonmuse t1_j1w9nom wrote
Does anybody know if the Red Cross is deploying DAT workers for this? I see the DRO in Volunteer Connection but unsure if its local only or if they're pulling other regions.
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justtheentiredick t1_j1yn5u0 wrote
People are looting stores in Buffalo so can't be that bad.
defusted t1_j1wemj8 wrote
I had to drive through NY to the Lyons falls area in October. With all the condemnable houses in that area I'm honestly surprised that number isn't way higher. Driving through that area, I was flabbergasted at the number of houses that were falling or fallen over and they just built another house next to the rubble. A lot of them were also just trailers or even RVs.
SynthFrog t1_j1xyltp wrote
>Driving through that area, I was flabbergasted at the number of houses that were falling or fallen over and they just built another house next to the rubble. A lot of them were also just trailers or even RVs.
Been in the Buffalo area for most of my life, and while there's definitely some not so great areas, I really can't think of any place that's just a bunch of ruined houses, trailers, and RVs. Most of Erie county isn't in ruins.
defusted t1_j1ywfze wrote
Well go take a drive through croghan sand Lyons falls areas
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xReshi92 t1_j1v38fk wrote
Texas having isolated power shortages is front-page news, but this massacre isn't? Selective outrage much?
For the record, I'm not defending the absurd bullshit we deal with in Texas from our government. Just find it interesting.
skilledwarman t1_j1vbjix wrote
The issues in Texas happened because the state fucked up and failed to properly maintain their grid. The issues in Buffalo happened because people under estimated a severe storm and got caught out
thegreatestajax t1_j1vhbr6 wrote
Underestimating a severe weather event is exactly what happened in Texas.
skilledwarman t1_j1vm1f0 wrote
Sure if you want to over simplify you could argue that
But one was decades of a government neglecting to properly maintain and keep up their states power grid while the other was people thinking that since they weathered the storm that dropped 7 feet of snow on them a couple weeks ago they'd be ready for this storm. People were caught out of their homes, were homeless and thought they could handle it without being at a real shelter or church, or got stuck out due to accidents
Not exactly the same thing
thegreatestajax t1_j1vor0f wrote
Speaking of oversimplifying…
If the TX event had happened a few weeks before or after, it wouldn’t have been as impactful. It was a once a century event that coincided with annual winter maintenance of plants to prepare for summer. Both were complex events.
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Grouchy_Occasion2292 t1_j1vkda9 wrote
Or they were homeless and they are not able to leave their cars and they don't have a home to go to.
holyerthanthou t1_j1v56be wrote
Hey at least our infrastructure works
FunkyMonkss t1_j1vjfbc wrote
New York State had a higher grid failure rate than Texas did during this storm so no your infrastructure didn't work
fattiesruineverythin t1_j1v7wv6 wrote
Why are so many people dying then?
skilledwarman t1_j1vbh93 wrote
Having heat and power at home doesn't matter if you get stuck on the side of the highway
FunkyMonkss t1_j1vjhiw wrote
A higher percentage of people in NY were without heat and power than Texas though
holyerthanthou t1_j1w8tqa wrote
NY has hurricane force winds and over 40” of snow mixed with sub zero temps
And it was back up for most within a day despite this.
In Texas it got chilly
[deleted] t1_j1vwz8r wrote
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DapprDanMan t1_j1vhqhk wrote
Yeah at least in Buffalo we are safe in our homes, so long as our heat held out. Weren’t people literally freezing to death in their living rooms in Texas?
but sure enjoy that Texan Independence
Grouchy_Occasion2292 t1_j1vk0qy wrote
Or your homeless. But then again just proves our infrastructure doesn't work not systematically. We have so many homeless people because we don't help people stay at homes.
Archberdmans t1_j1vb4dk wrote
They’re dying in the snow in cars
not in their houses cuz the powers out because it went below 20; they have tons of snow and -30 degree windchills in buffalo
damnthistrafficjam t1_j1vddcq wrote
I have a terrible feeling that by the time there’s a noticeable amount of snow that’s melted or cleared out, that the numbers will be worse. Thinking about those who maybe live alone without family or community support.
Grouchy_Occasion2292 t1_j1vk3jy wrote
Yeah probably because they're homeless and don't have a home to go to which is a systematic failure of us.
fattiesruineverythin t1_j1vckcc wrote
They are stuck on the roads? That's part of infrastructure. And there are thousands without power in NY. They should fix their shitty infrastructure.
LivefromPhoenix t1_j1vd1tj wrote
What a stupid comment. Buffalo is actually a world leader in rapid snow removal, the issue here was primarily hurricane force winds making the cold much more dangerous than it usually would be. Unless you're suggesting NY break out their weather machines there's not much we can do about that. Texas' issues were connected to the politically motivated decision to keep their energy grid separate from the rest of the country.
fattiesruineverythin t1_j1vd7d0 wrote
NY isn't providing consistent energy to residents.
Archberdmans t1_j1vedpi wrote
Lmao everything’s some dumb political zero sum game isn’t it lmao
Grouchy_Occasion2292 t1_j1vkba6 wrote
When the thing is very political itself then yeah of course it is. Do you think infrastructure is not political? Do you think the vast amount of homeless we have isn't political?
Archberdmans t1_j1vmaaa wrote
I think that a lot of things are political but at some point bad weather happens and buffalo isn’t unprepared due to politics, at least in terms of snow infrastructure compared to a lot of places. They’re probably one of the most prepared places in the lower 48 for snow.
Now the homeless problem isn’t unique to buffalo that’s a whole country problem but yeah I’ll give ya that homelessness is something we could easily avoid if we wanted to
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Fun-Gap4015 t1_j1vbr7w wrote
You didn't read the headlines because this is front page news. Why are you trying to make terrible deaths an us vs them thing?
happyscrappy t1_j1va6ti wrote
I didn't see that Texas stuff on the front page. While this literally is on the front page of the NY Times right now. First item below the headline Southwest schlimazel.
[deleted] t1_j1vdjxw wrote
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rickylong34 t1_j1v431b wrote
No one should have died from this storm we knew it was coming 2 weeks out, the us needs to get it shit together we handle way more snow and lower temps here in Canada with no deaths and less $$
ComradeMoneybags t1_j1v7ept wrote
Buffalo resident here. The city advises other cities around the world on rapid snow removal, but this was a whole new level of batshit insane weather, almost all of fueled by wind and lake effect snow. Last month some of us had seven feet of snow dropped on us in a day, but shrugged off as usual. The extreme lack of visibility from the wind (basically a hurricane with snow), which we aren’t prepped for, in narrow streets is what made the situation a nightmare. This isn’t a US thing, New York thing or even Erie County thing, just an alignment of circumstances such as geography (this was a ten mile thin corridor, where anywhere outside of it was relatively untouched), as well as poverty and income inequality issues that made this weekend so deadly.
Team_Ed t1_j1vdoum wrote
Canadian here. I’d hazard to guess that no major Canadian city has ever been hit with anything close to a comparable blizzard to what Buffalo just went through.
More snow? Maybe somewhere in the Rockies. Buffalo airport is at 50” through today, which is way more than double the single storm records in Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Regina and Toronto. St. John’s is the only major city I can find with a comparable record.
Colder? Yes.
But full blizzard conditions with Cat. 1 winds for 36+ hours?
I genuinely doubt that’s ever happened in any major Canadian city, and when big historic blizzards have hit, they also killed a bunch of Canadians, too.
Really, the lake effect conditions that caused this storm basically do not exist anywhere there’s a Canadian city over 100,000.
The only thing comparable might be a big winter nor’easter on the Atlantic coast.
AKravr t1_j1veu1t wrote
Yep, Here in Alaska we got hit by even higher winds and colder temps last week but it was a week after the 40" inches of snow. So while we had 16ft snow drifts we didn't have everything all at once.
rukh999 t1_j1v6fq0 wrote
This is some nonsense. This was a century level storm. Part of the problem is Buffalo deals with storms all the time so people thought they could run home on the leading edge but it hit so hard and suddenly they got caught. It wasn't just the snow, it was complete whiteout conditions were people were getting lost going outside in their own neighborhood and 70 mph wind gusts where the snow was all coming in sideways. The killer was even the emergency vehicles built to get places would try to get to emergencies and all got stuck. There were no emergency services and a lot of the first deaths were due to that. You have a heart attack, well that's too bad. Lose power in 11 degree weather, or your windows break from the hurricane winds, hope you figure it out.
Famous1107 t1_j1v7kx5 wrote
I thought this. Warning was set for 7 am, I went out for supplies at 5 am thinking I got time. Almost didnt make it back.
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Express_Helicopter93 t1_j1vcxft wrote
Yup. Way less $, way worse infrastructure…and in Winnipeg it regularly gets to -45 with that wind and shit ton of snow. I know it’s being called a “storm of the century” but come on, you know thats just the media. We get these “storms of the century” basically every winter. Rarely do we have people die here as a result of a winter storm, let alone 20+, that is pathetic. Poor planning or something, that shouldn’t happen.
Team_Ed t1_j1vgkyq wrote
Find a time Winnipeg has ever had a storm this bad let alone every winter.
Up to 40-50” of snow with hurricane force winds for 36 hours has never happened in Winnipeg, and the worst Winnipeg has had absolutely shut down the city just like Buffalo.
Take 1966: The City of Winnipeg said the blizzard lasted 20 hours, dropping 35.6 cm of snow on top of the city. Winds gusted up to 113 km/h. At the Winnipeg airport there was zero visibility for 14 consecutive hours.
Buffalo’s storm was waaaaaay worse in every measurable way.
Express_Helicopter93 t1_j1vqc6z wrote
Waaaay colder in Winnipeg. And yes it has happened in Winnipeg, nice try though.
Don’t take it personally, I’m insulting your government, not you.
Eudaimonics t1_j1uf9fn wrote
Buffalo can handle snow, even 6 feet of it. Hurricane force winds and frigid temperatures made this storm much more deadly. /r/buffalo