There is something magical going on around the coast of Lake Erie this winter. Several feet of snow has fallen and the temperatures have dipped well below freezing. CNN has also reported 5-meter waves on the lake! With all of that weather, those areas are a virtual winter wonderland, thanks to a new round of blizzards pushing through western New York last week. When temperatures dropped below freezing on Wednesday and two days of strong wind followed, it sent chills down many spines.
3 ft thick ice on Lake Erie. pic.twitter.com/oZFmCIJ9SP
— Alex Kriege (@Spoonlurker99) March 2, 2020
A town near southern Buffalo came up on the internet radar when nearly all of the houses facing the lake were blanketed with ice and snow. Even the nearby trees were covered in ice and snow.
According to Ed Mis, a long-term Hamburg, NY resident, he has seen his fair share of ice in the past but this was the worst he has seen. “It looks fake, it looks unreal. It’s dark on the inside of my house. It can be a little eerie, a little frightening,” he said, according to InnerSplendor.
LOOK at these homes completely encased in ice! The waterfront houses are on Lake Erie, and are the result of two straight days of gale force winds and freezing temperatures. (Source: WROC, John Kucko Digital) pic.twitter.com/6yUqnoXIsu
— WDBJ7 (@WDBJ7) March 2, 2020
His home had a covering of several feet of ice and snow and his backyard had 12 feet of snow! He also said that his home and yard had no ice on Thursday, but by Friday, it was a different story.
When you look at the homes covered with ice, it looks like a scene right out of Disney’s Frozen. Although it looks beautiful, that much weight could damage the homes.
Wow, some stunning photos of the aftermath of an ice storm along the shores of Lake Erie!https://t.co/titHaZZTUs pic.twitter.com/NLA2OX8G7O
— Michael West (@curatedcosmos) March 2, 2020
WGRZ, a local NBC affiliate, reported that some homes in the area were dark. The residents said that at least a meter of ice or deeper were seen. Mis said, “We’re worried about the integrity, of structure failure when it starts to melt, because of the weight on the roof.”
48 hours of strong gale winds creating large waves and driving lake water to the shore are to blame for much of the snowfall according to the Weather Channel. Wether expert, Tom Niziol said, “When you are down in the low to mid-20s, all of that spray that comes up and hits the buildings is going to freeze and make it a giant icicle.”
Homes along Lake Erie are covered in ice following two days of gale-force winds. The ice covering the houses is up to 3 feet thick. pic.twitter.com/YBtWgjy46O
— Meanwhile in Canada (@MeanwhileinCana) March 2, 2020
The ice was melting by Friday, but Mis is hopeful the governor will approve a declaration of an emergency to help with the recovery. He said, “It’s a beautiful sight, but I don’t want to live through it again.” Other pictures of the area were also found on Twitter:
Welcome to Narnia: Two days of gale force winds along Lake Erie have iced over many of the homes along the beach in Hamburg, NY. @news4buffalo @News_8 @EricSnitilWx @JamesGilbertWX @wnywxguy @spann @JimCantore @StephanieAbrams @StormHour @NatalieKucko pic.twitter.com/uMvIdVWMGz
— John Kucko (@john_kucko) February 29, 2020
A Tweet from John Kucko shows frozen statues and was captioned, “Welcome to Narnia.” Lise Kreuder, who lives in the area, told WIVB-TV that she hasn’t seen a snowstorm this bad since the ’70s and her house was affected.
Kreuder said, “My garage floor is started to show cracks. Last night we took in a small amount of water.” As reported by NSSL, “As a cold, dry air mass moves over the Great Lakes region the air picks up lots of moisture from the Great Lake. This air, now full of water, dumps the water as snow in areas generally to the south and east of the lakes.”