Strong to Severe Thunderstorms from the Southern Plains to the Ohio Valley; Heavy Rain and Flooding in the Southern Plains

Severe thunderstorms are expected from central Texas to middle Tennessee and Kentucky this afternoon into tonight. Large hail and damaging winds are the main threats. Heavy to excessive rainfall may produce areas of flooding today and tonight from central Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley. Read More >

Western New York Weather History

FEBRUARY 1

1982

A winter storm struck the Niagara Frontier and western southern tier on January 31st and continued through February 1st. Precipitation fell as a mixture of rain, freezing rain and snow. Wind gusts as high as 61 mph on the 1st. Most of western New York's schools closed on the first as glazed highways and the high winds made driving extremely hazardous. Buffalo International Airport shut down most of the 1st due to ice accumulations up to 1 ½ inches on the runways. The high winds caused local whiteouts and extreme cold wind chills. Thousands of area homes were without power as ice coated power lines throughout the area. There were numerous reports of traffic accidents including a tractor trailer that was blown off Route 219 in Orchard Park and six tractor trailers jack knifed and slid off the Southern Tier Expressway. The Father Baker Bridge, Fuhrman Boulevard, and the Skyway were closed because of icy pavement and zero visibility.

2000

A north to northwest flow of cold air crossing the Great Lakes and Georgian Bay resulted in lake effect snowbands over Monroe, Wayne, Oswego Lewis and Erie counties. Snow totals between six and ten inches were reported, including a large portion of the Rochester Metro area. Specific reports included: 9" at Sandy Creek and 8 inches at Springville, Castorland, Clyde and Perinton.

2002

A large scale storm system crossed the region on January 31st-February 1st bringing precipitation amounts of two to three inches to the region. The heavy rains on bare, saturated ground caused area creeks to rise with several exceeding flood stage. Cazenova Creek at Ebenezer rose above its flood stage of 10 feet at 8 am EST on the 1st and crested at 12.3 feet at 1pm. Cayuga creek at Lancaster rose above its 8 foot flood stage at 11 am on the 1st and crested at 8.9 feet at 4pm. Buffalo Creek at Gardenville rose above its 7 foot flood stage at 10 am on the 1st and crested at 8.2 feet at 4pm. Scajaquada Creek overflowed its banks at Delaware Park in Buffalo and Delaware road was closed for several hours in the late afternoon and evening of the 1st. Tonawanda Creek at Batavia exceeded its 9 foot flood stage at 6 am on the 2nd and crested at 10.1 feet at 2pm.

As the intensifying storm moved across the Great Lakes and lifted northeast to the St. Lawrence Valley, very strong winds behind the low blasted the region with wind gusts exceeding 55 mph. Trees and power lines were downed by the strong winds. Hundreds of thousands were without power...some for several days. Fallen trees and limbs littered the area and closed roads. Numerous reports of damage to homes and automobiles were received from throughout the area. Driving bans and States of Emergency were declared in several counties. Numerous school districts were forced to close on the first and several remained closed through the beginning of the following week. In Monroe county, two injuries resulted from the high winds. A man was briefly hospitalized after gusts blew apart the trailer he was working in at the Greater Rochester Airport. Also in Rochester, a woman was blown from the sidewalk into the street where she was hit by an oncoming car. In Tonawanda, an inflated golf dome was torn to shreds by the high winds.