Travel Bans in Erie County Are a Possibility With Snowstorm

We're less than 12 hours away from the huge lake effect snowstorm that is projected to bare down on Buffalo and surrounding areas in Western New York this evening, lasting until sometime on Sunday.

A Winter Storm Warning will be in effect for Erie County at 7 pm this evening and goes until Sunday at 1 pm.

Get our free mobile app

New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and the I-90 Thruway from Rochester to the Pennsylvania line will close to commercial traffic at 4 pm.

You know it's a big snowstorm with Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel is in your hometown and Cantore is in Buffalo for the incoming lake effect snowstorm.

Cantore talked with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz about the county's preparation and Poloncarz said that travel bans are something he and the county are looking into, based on how bad the storm is.

"It's possible if it gets really bad, I'll have to declare a state of emergency and put a driving ban in for the entire county," said Poloncarz.

Poloncarz says that it's his call on the travel ban and he will see what public works and law enforcement say on the storm around 3-4 am.

If you planned on driving tomorrow, I would suggest you change your plans, unless you are an essential worker. A travel ban was put into place for areas south of Buffalo during the lake effect snowstorm in November of 2014, so this could yield a similar result, but we have to wait and see.