ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WIVB) — Snowplow crews are working around the clock to keep up with this weekend’s lake-effect snowfall, including a crew in Orchard Park that was clearing out the snow for residents.
The snowfall resulted in multiple counties being placed under a state of emergency on Friday. Some counties also remain under a lake-effect snow warning until 7 p.m. Monday. Travel bans and advisories popped up around the region over the weekend due to the weather conditions.
State of Emergency declared for much of WNY amid storm
“It’s been wild. To go from no snow to two feet in one weekend, especially with the record warm temperatures that we’ve had,” said Connor Kolb, owner of WNY Snow Removal. “It’s been a lot to go from that to switch gears.”
Snowplow crews are thawing off their equipment this weekend, with Kolb’s team keeping busy by clearing out the snow in Orchard Park and West Seneca. He said the challenging part is trying to keep up with it all.
“It’s not the biggest snowfall that we’ve ever had, but obviously with the timing and people in from out of town for the Bills game, it provides different challenges I’d say,” Kolb said.
His crews have been out since Saturday afternoon.
“I wouldn’t say it’s the most important job in the world, but I would say it’s important to make sure people are able to get to where they need to go,” Kolb said.
It was a slow start to the winter season, with almost no snowfall throughout November.
Kolb said during that time crews were able to double check their routes to make sure everything was good to go.
“We’re able to go through trucks and equipment to make sure if there’s anything that needs to be taken care of that we visually see, we can take care of it then,” Kolb said.
Lake-effect snowfall totals around Western New York
He said they’ve been ready to tackle the first snowfall of the season, but could use a break from Mother Nature.
“When you get two feet of snow in a 24-hour time frame, it wears on the guys, people get crabby and stuff because there’s so much coming so fast and you’re trying to keep up with it, but everybody’s worked through it,” Kolb said. “Our crews have been very busy taking care of business and I’m blessed to have a great group of guys around and everyone does their thing, takes care of business when it’s time to go.”
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Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated reporter and Buffalo native who has been a part of the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work.
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