How much snow fell in your area? Find out here and why

Nature sure did dump a lot of snow across Western New York over the past few days. 

The same system that brought blizzard conditions and severe weather to the Midwest helped usher in colder air into Western New York Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Colder air flowing over a 'warm' Lake Erie and Ontario, coupled with plenty of moisture in the low to mid levels and winds aligned allowed for the lake effect snow machine to get going. 

The slopes in ski country didn't need to turn on the snow guns. You folks needed the snowblowers to dig yourselves out. 

Lake Effect continued to pile it on south of Buffalo Tuesday night through Wednesday afternoon. At times, some areas were seeing up to two inches per hour. 

Here are some of the snow reports from across your area thanks to the National Weather Service. 

Cattaraugus County               Inches

Cattaraugus                                        22.0"   
Randolph                                             21.0"   
Little Valley                                         15.0"   
Gowanda                                             14.5"   

Chautauqua County
South Dayton                                    30.0"  
Kennedy                                             24.5"   
Celoron                                               24.5"  
Randolph                                           24.4"   

Erie County
Sardinia                                              23.0"   
Colden                                                  19.3"   
Sardinia                                              18.0"   
Glenwood                                            12.0"

Allegany County
Rushford                                              5.7"   
Angelica                                               3.3"   
Alfred                                                    2.7"   
Whitesville                                           2.3"   

Wyoming County
Arcade                                                15.0"
Warsaw                                              12.0"
Wyoming                                           11.0"
Attica                                                   8.3"

As you can imagine, once the lake effect snow machine starts, it's hard to shut it down. 

There were also impressive snow totals in the Southtowns too. 

Erie County                  Inches
East Aurora                        13.6"
Elma                                      8.9"
Orchard Park                      5.0"
Hamburg                              4.9"
West Seneca                         4.6"

Elevation played a key role into how much more snow fell on the hills compared to the Southtowns. The higher the elevation, the more snow you likely got. You can see the difference in snowfall totals by looking at this snowfall analysis map produced by NOAA. 

We didn't forget about you Northtowns. It took you a little longer for the snow to stick to the ground.

Niagara County               Inches
Niagara Falls                           8.3"   
Sanborn                                     8.2"  
Rapids                                        8.2"
Lockport                                    7.5"

Erie County
Tonawanda                              9.0"
Buffalo Airport                        8.0"
Williamsville                            7.0"
Amherst                                    6.2"

Genesee County
Batavia                                     6.0"   
Batavia                                     6.0"   
Alden                                         4.7"   
Corfu                                         4.5"   

Orleans County
Medina                                      5.5"   
Medina                                      5.5"   
Albion                                        4.5"   

Temperatures during the day were favorable for wet flakes with some rain occasionally mixing in at times. Colder air at the surface allowed for a more favorable snow profile late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

A shift in wind direction early Wednesday pushed steadier bands of lake snow over Lake Ontario through Niagara and Orleans County. Lake Huron too played a small role, throwing some lake effect snow our way too. That's why you had to get out the shovel Wednesday morning.

You can find more snow totals courtesy of the National Weather Service. 

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