General Discussion

that my area missed the worst of it, but we still had continuous wind and heavy snowfall that came in wave after wave as the wind directions shifted.

I picked up med refills and stocked up on other necessities the evening before it hit. The line at CVS was so long that I almost went home with the intention of returning early in the morning since the storm was not predicted to hit until around 9 or 10 am. So glad that I stuck it out that night.

By 10 pm night before the storm, the NWS at Buffalo changed its warning for the expected arrival time and first areas expected to be hit to earlier morning hours due to a shift in winds and other factors.

The date was December 23. Several stores had extended hours for Christmas shoppers -- opening earlier for "special sales" and closing later. Some were open all night.

Because the change in the NWS warnings came late the night before, many people did not know about the changes.

The bomb cyclone blizzard that I experienced in Cleveland in 1978 was even worse. Warm and rainy the day before. Temps dropped 20 degrees in one hour
overnight. Rain froze on surfaces in very thick sheets of ice. Started with 50 mph steady wind and horizontal snowfall at 5 am. Winds increased during the day. Some gusts reached 110 mph. Several feet of snow and huge drifts.

A bomb cyclone blizzard is a rare, once in a generation event. Two in one person's lifetime are REALLY rare, but they were in two different states, although both were on Lake Erie. Just my luck to be present for both.