Frozen, This New York Town Is Now Covered In Ice, How Did It Happen?

ABC News reports that New York Governor Kathy Hochul described the winter storm that hit Buffalo and Western New York over Christmas Weekend as, "the blizzard of the century". Flights cancelled, 28,000 without power and vehicle travel banned on the city streets as nearly 50 inches of snow has fallen.

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New York started off pretty mild on Friday with some areas seeing temperatures reach the 50's. In at least one community along the shores of Lake Erie temperatures plummeted from 45 degrees to 12 degrees in just a few short moments. That is when homes and businesses started to be incased with ice.

CNN reports that cars, van, trucks and all types of vehicles were abandoned in the snow in Buffalo. New York State Police and local authorities had to go door-to-door, car-to-car, checking to see if people were in their vehicles.

Much of the freezing along Lake Erie is due to the below freezing temperatures combined with the spray of the lake water as the wind blows and waves hit the shoreline in Hamburg, NY.

Temperatures in the Buffalo area are expected to rise into the 40's this week and possibly the 50 within the next 7 days. This will move the thawing process along quickly.

There pictures are an eerie sight, pun intended, as the ice has appeared to stop time along the shores of Lake Erie. According to Weather.com, when you combine the 200+ miles of water in the lake with wind gusts and very cold temperatures, that water spray will land on the buildings and freeze.