'Used to it': Erie County report shows which towns are most impacted by lake effect snow

TOWN OF CONCORD, N.Y. (WKBW) — We all get snow in Western New York, but which communities have spent the most time shoveling over the past 30 years?

The answer is obvious: the Southtowns, but there's more to it. Erie County released a lake effect snow report analyzing snow since 1994, linked here.

Areas like Hamburg and Orchard Park get the most snowfall, but it snows most frequently further south in places like Holland, Boston and Concord.

"We're used to it. It is what it is," said Larry Heim, Town of Concord Highway Superintendent. "Sometimes in the valleys you have nothing, on the hills, you have a foot and a half, you don't know, it all depends on the day."

The report looks at which areas get events more than four inches. Erie County DPW district in Concord sees less than 4” events only 13% of the time.

"We have things a little different around here. We have places to put the snow, we don't have a lot of houses out here, we have country roads," said Heim.

WATCH: 'Used to it': Erie County report shows which towns are most impacted by lake effect snow

A look at the numbers

The top 5 snow events since 1994 are:

1. December 24- January 1, 2001/2002 - 81.6" Buffalo Airport
2. November 17-20, 2022 - 81.2" Hamburg
3. November 17th-19, 2014 - 65.0" Cheektowaga (Snowvember)
4. December 23-27, 2022 - 51.9" Buffalo Airport (Blizzard of '22)
5. November 19-21, 2014 - 49.0" Wales

I added up some of the snow totals, and Concord has seen some of the most snowfall over the past three decades, with at least 1,970 inches or 164 feet of snow. That's taller than the new Bills stadium.

"That's quite a lot," said Heim. "It doesn't seem like it. We haven't gotten 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 feet at a time. We get snow, it melts, I guess that does add up to more snow over time."

The report will be presented to the Erie County Legislature on January 22.

"It is our hope that this report will provide a better understanding of this unique phenomenon to the municipalities of Erie County," wrote Dan Neaverth Jr. in a letter to the legislature.