This Southwestern Blvd. Intersection is a Snowy Disaster [VIDEO]

The lake effect snowstorm is officially here.

The heavy, intense snow band is currently situated over the southtowns, with the hardest hit areas at the moment being Orchard Park, Hamburg, West Seneca, Lackawanna, Angola and extending up to South Buffalo.

There's still a travel ban for areas below the downtown area of Buffalo in Erie County and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced the 400 interstate is closed because of the snowstorm, as is the I-219 and exits 53 to 59 of the I-90 Thruway.

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Other main roadways have been a disaster today, with many cars off the road and stuck in massive snow piles. It hurts the plows ability to get down roads that need cleared as well.

Check out this video of the intersection of Southwestern Blvd. and Camp Road in Hamburg this morning. It shows just how bad the road conditions are and why travel bans have been put into place.

Essential personnel should be the only drivers on the road right now, which includes emergency personnel, law enforcement, plow drivers and some media members. If you don't absolutely have to travel, don't.

The problem with lake effect snow this heavy is even when a road looks cleared enough to drive, an intense band can then cross over and you're left with rapid snow accumulations and whiteout conditions.

This is reminding so many people of "Snowvember" back in 2014 and it definitely has many similarities, although this lake effect band should move north of Buffalo late tonight and into Saturday, hopefully giving the southtowns a much-needed break.