It’s been over two years since NYC saw more than an inch of snowfall, but this morning, that record was broken! But while NYC saw 1.4 inches, areas of western New York saw more than two feet of snow!
According to Fox Weather, some areas even piled up over 3 feet of snow, like Hamburg, a suburb in Buffalo, which saw 41.3 inches. The temperatures were so frigid that one of the area’s restaurants was turned into a literal ice castle.
On Wednesday, January 10th, Hoak’s Lakeshore Restaurant, located on the shores of Lake Erie, stated on Instagram that they’d be boarding up the restaurant to prepare to face the wind storm. Though it didn’t take long for conditions to take an icy turn.
Eventually, the restaurant received a “small dose of an ice castle coating” and had to close up shop.
Despite their frozen façade, however, Hoak’s Lakeshore Restaurant reopened to patrons on Monday, January 15th, stating “Our ice castle today from our first storm of 2024. We are Open!”
The announcement accompanied photo of the restaurant completely iced over, complete with rows of massive icicles.
On Sunday, January 14th, Twitter user @weather_buffalo also shared a video of the restaurant completely frozen over, writing “I walked into the movie Frozen.”
Hamburg residents and Hoak’s Lakeshore Restaurant workers aren’t unfamiliar with this type of weather, however.
Back in December 2022, more than 50 inches of snow fell on Buffalo in a lake-effect blizzard, also covering the restaurant in layers of ice and damaging nearby businesses.
According to the National Weather Service, a Lake Effect Snow Warning is in effect from today, January 16th at 1pm through Thursday, January 18th, at 7pm.
Total snow accumulations of 1 to 3 feet are expected, with the greatest amounts expected across central and northern Erie County. A Hazardous Weather Outlook is also in effect through portions of western New York.