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Bald Eagle Snows
Mon Feb 03, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
Chestnut and Hickory were awesome events, but few Buffalo, New York residents would forget the
Bald Eagle of 2001. Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is The Weather Notebook.
In the 1995-96 winter season the Buffalo National Weather Service office began naming major
lake-effect snow storms for archival purposes. As with hurricanes, the names progressed
alphabetically, but for snowstorms the names change annually under a theme. Heavenly bodies,
trees, and birds. Storms are also given a flake index based on snowfall and social impact.
One flake for minor events and five for epic, mega-storms.
Bald Eagle began Christmas Eve 2001 and lasted a record seven days. An epic even among five
flakers, ranking in the top five snowstorms ever to hit Buffalo.
Cold air blasted across warm Lake Erie waters on Christmas Eve producing thundery, intense
snow bands across the Buffalo area. Snow accumulated up to four inches per hour. Over two
days, 12 to 25 inches buried metropolitan Buffalo.
As winds slowly shifted, snow streamers wriggled over the region, dropping several inches per
hour south of town. By late Wednesday the 26th, they returned to Buffalo proper dumping
another eight inches of snow in six hours.
Thursday, the Buffalo airport marked nearly 18 inches of fresh snow and Friday added 15 more.
By the time Bald Eagle bade Buffalo farewell 81.6 inches had piled on. Truly a historic storm
worthy of five flakes and it
s own name.
The Weather Notebook comes to you from the Mount Washington Observatory with support from
Subaru and the National Science Foundation.
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