National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Western New York Weather History

 

MARCH 21

 

 

1980

A new Buffalo record of 1.35 inches of rain and melted snow fall was set on the 21st. The heavy rain caused basement flooding in Kenmore and flooding in Amherst along Sheridan drive. As the rain changed to snow five inches accumulated overnight at the Airport and more than a foot was reported near Lake Ontario and south of Buffalo. The snow was very wet and heavy. It downed electric lines in parts of Cheektowaga cutting power to about 500 homes. 

1998

Deep low pressure tracked from Kentucky to New England and brought heavy snow to the entire region. The storm began as a period of freezing rain and sleet Friday evening the 20th and changed over to snow early Saturday morning. The heaviest snow from the storm fell over the northern counties from the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area to Rochester and Oswego county. It was the largest snowfall of the entire winter season in the Buffalo metro area. The snow made roadways extremely slick and innumerable accidents resulted. The heavy ice and snow on power lines and trees resulted in scattered power outages throughout the area. Specific snowfall reports included: 16" in Colden; 13" in Fulton, Warsaw, Grand Island, and Niagara Falls; 12" in Rochester and Buffalo; 11" in Perrysburg, Victor and Fair Haven; 10" in Albion, Angelica, Newark and Montague; and 8" in Mount Morris and Watertown.