Don’t Say Goodbye To The Snow Just Yet

With over a hundred inches of snow, extended periods of brutal cold and wind chill along with two blizzards this has been one of the toughest Buffalo winters in a while. It looks like we have a break from the winter weather coming up this weekend but don’t put your snow shovels away just yet.

April snowstorms in Buffalo aren’t unusual. There was one in 1901 that brought about 8 inches of snow and killed a milk deliveryman’s horse.

Whenever snow and Buffalo are mentioned in the same breath most Buffalonians old enough to remember will recall the Blizzard of ’77 – the worst storm to hit this city – certainly in terms of deaths. In terms of snowfall that winter holds the Buffalo record with 199 inches of snow.

Even though heavy snow in April is unusual, it’s not unheard of and we’re not alone.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts has been hit with four blizzards this winter – the latest one with winds up to 70 miles an hour.

In April of last year, southern California in the mountains east of San Diego and Los Angeles had snow – up to a foot of snow in the higher elevations. Strong winds created whiteout conditions.

The week before, Flagstaff, Arizona and areas north of Tucson, Arizona got hit with snow.

Checking the April weather history books, 30 inches of snow fell in parts of North Dakota in late April, 1967 leaving 4 to 5 foot drifts.

Princeton, Massachusetts was buried under 25 inches of snow on April 29th, 1987.

Rochester, Minnesota set an April record with 13.7 inches of snow on April 26th, 1988.

Amarillo, Texas got 6 and a half inches of snow on April 25th, 1997.

Would you believe Atlanta, Georgia got an inch and an half of snow on April 25th, 1920?

Up to two feet of heavy, wet snow fell in the New York Catskills and the Pennsylvania Poconos on April 23rd, 1986 tying up traffic across both states.

Denver got pounded with 23 inches of snow in April, 1885 – that city’s greatest single snowfall in 24 hours. Roofs caved in, telephone and power lines were knocked down, streets and railroads were blocked.

Buffalo is not the only place that sees snow in April.