Flooding Now a Concern in Buffalo

Now that the lake-effect snow event is over for places like Buffalo, flooding is the next concern for areas that were pounded with heavy snow. Temperatures are expected to rise above freezing in Buffalo and remain that way until Tuesday while rain moves in this weekend. The combination of melting snow pack and rainfall will create some flooding problems in Buffalo. In the latest 5-day precipitation forecast from the WPC, Buffalo is forecast to receive 1-1.5″ of rainfall.

The National Weather Service has now issued flash flood watches for the Buffalo Area. One major concern is that the snow pack will not allow any rainfall to drain properly.

“TWO SIGNIFICANT LAKE EFFECT SNOW EVENTS THIS WEEK HAVE BROUGHT A
VERY DEEP SNOWPACK ACROSS PORTIONS OF WESTERN NEW YORK. THIS
SNOWPACK NOW STORES A LARGE QUANTITY OF WATER. SNOW SURVEYS TODAY
INDICATE THAT THE SNOWPACK IN THE HARDEST HIT AREAS CONTAINS
BETWEEN 4 AND 6 INCHES OF WATER EQUIVALENT. AFTER THE LAKE EFFECT
SNOW ENDS…A WARMING TREND WILL START EARLY THIS WEEKEND. BY
SATURDAY AFTERNOON AIR TEMPERATURES WILL RISE ABOVE FREEZING AND
THEN REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. DAYTIME HIGHS
WILL RISE TO NEAR 50 F DEGREES ON SUNDAY…AND NEAR 60 F DEGREES
ON MONDAY. IN ADDITION TO THE WARMING AIR TEMPERATURES…A
SOUTHERLY BREEZE AND RISING DEW POINTS WILL MAKE FOR A MORE
EFFICIENT MELTING OF THE SNOWPACK.

AT FIRST THE SNOWPACK WILL ABSORB MUCH OF THE WATER FROM THE SNOW
MELT. HOWEVER AS THE SNOWPACK RIPENS…AND WITH THE ADDITION OF A
HALF INCH OR SO OF RAINFALL SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY…THE
POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING WILL RAPIDLY INCREASE.

PEOPLE LIVING IN AREAS PRONE TO FLOODING…AND WHERE SIGNIFICANT
AMOUNTS OF SNOW FELL SHOULD TAKE TIME IN ADVANCE OF THE WARMING
TO PREPARE FOR THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT FLOODING EARLY NEXT
WEEK. IN ADDITION TO CREEKS AND SMALL STREAMS FLOODING THEIR
BANKS…GENERAL FLOODING IS POSSIBLE ACROSS TOWNS WHERE SEVERAL
FEET OF SNOW FELL. DRAINS MAY BE CLOGGED WITH SNOW AND LEAVES…
AND THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF SNOW MAY PREVENT WATER FROM DRAINING
EFFICIENTLY.”