Feet of lake-effect snow causes structural damage

AccuWeather

Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby reported live from the scene of ongoing heavy snow to the east of the Great Lakes on Dec. 2.

Transcript

00:00Our coverage continues right now, Bri, with storm chaser Aaron Rigsby.

00:04He is going to join us now live from Erie, Pennsylvania.

00:09Aaron, this has been an amazing event here and I see you made it into Erie.

00:13So what has been this event like for you looking at

00:17downwind of Lake Ontario earlier and now entering the area that got hammered east

00:21of Lake Erie?

00:24Yeah, good evening Jeff. Well, the snow continues to come down here and it's

00:28just been absolutely relentless over the last few days and I tell you the scene

00:32behind me is all too familiar from what I've been seeing over the last few days

00:35anywhere from here all the way up to Watertown on both Lake Erie and Ontario.

00:40I mean, I don't know how you can't look at this car behind me and some of these

00:43side streets and not be just an absolute awe at the snowfall totals

00:48that have been just raging across here this week. I mean,

00:51it is nothing short of impressive and a lot of these side streets

00:55are still a big mess. They're really bumpy, they're still snow covered and

00:59there's still a lot of vehicles spinning all over the place. Now, I will say

01:03there has been one thing that I've noticed this evening

01:06that has been kind of an underlying hazard is that

01:09there has been so much snow that has fallen over this area in such a short

01:13time that the sidewalks have completely

01:15filled with chest deep snow and everyone that is walking to and from

01:19work and commuting through this city is

01:22actually having to walk down the middle of the streets here. So,

01:26having to use a little bit of extra caution while driving around these areas

01:30this evening. That's pretty dangerous, very, very

01:32dangerous. So, really good to travel advisory there from you, Aaron.

01:37Anybody watching, whether you're in Erie or other areas,

01:40sidewalks are not an option for people. They're going to be out on the roads,

01:44very dangerous. Aaron, I know that you encountered some

01:47structural damage earlier today. We've been showing some of the footage

01:51that you caught with your drone. Can you tell us about that?

01:56Yeah, unfortunately, the weight of the snow that had fallen across

02:00areas of New York over the last few days, upwards of 50 inches of snow, was too

02:04much for one of the barns that unfortunately was housing a bunch

02:08of cows there. And I did confirm, I couldn't tell you how many were

02:13confirmed, but there has been confirmed reports

02:16that a few of the cattle were killed in that accident and that's a reason

02:20the owner actually had to scramble to get a bunch of the snow off of the other

02:24barn. So, it also didn't suffer the same fate and they had to have a lot of help

02:29from the local officials to herd a bunch of that cattle out and get them to a

02:32safe location to get them out of that debris pile.

02:35So, that's just one of many hazards that we've been dealing with over the last

02:38few days and will continue to be dealing with,

02:40especially here in Erie, Pennsylvania, where they can get upwards of another

02:44foot of snow by tomorrow morning. And we're watching this band here come

02:49in and is pushing south through the city or into the city.

02:51Aaron, be careful as you're out and about here. What's your plan for the final

02:55stage of this before the next Arctic front moves in?

03:00Yeah, well, while the band associated with the Watertown snow has wind down

03:04for the afternoon, I'm going to be right here in Erie, Pennsylvania, covering

03:07those remnant snow bands and see the impacts it's going to have

03:10on I-90 that it's been having over the last several days as well.

03:13All right, we can see up into areas around London, Ontario,

03:16upstream. The next band is kind of taking shape here,

03:20contributed by Lake Huron, and that's going to be

03:23re-energized by Lake Erie as that pushes south as well. Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby.

03:27Aaron, thanks so much for being with us here in Erie, PA.

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