Lake-Effect Snow Bombards Buffalo In Stunning Time Lapse

Alfonzo Cutaia looked out his office window yesterday in Buffalo, NY, where it is currently in the friggin 20s, to see what looked like a wave of snow moving inland from Lake Erie.

This is called lake-effect snow, and it’s caused when very cold air moves over a warmer body of water. The freezing air picks up the warm water vapor, turning it into snow, and moves it toward land.

I certainly don’t envy those living through the cold snap that’s enveloped much of the northern United States over the last week. I feel especially guilty writing this from southern California, where the high today is 71 degrees, and it’s mostly sunny.

Of course, what we don’t get here in L.A. are snow days! Here’s Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson tossing his kids into a big pile of snow.