WASHINGTON — People near Buffalo, New York, are suffering under 6 feet of
snow in some places, and this week WTOP traffic man Dave Dildine is indulging
his other passion — weather — by looking into the conditions in upstate New
York. They’re boggling even his mind.
“The wildest thing … has been the thunder and lightning,” Dildine told WTOP
on Tuesday night.
He’s also seen “countless” abandoned vehicles on the highway, and he’s been
“spellbound” by the rate of snowfall.
“You can’t even see your hand in front of your face,” he says.
“Snow blindness is a real thing. It’s very easy to become disoriented under
these conditions.”
Here’s what it looks like near Buffalo, New York. (WTOP/Dave Dildine)
The cold air riding over the relatively warm lake has created snow conditions
over a relatively narrow 10- to 15-mile area that make travel “impossible.”
Dildine says people are used to forecasters and the National Weather Service
saying that travel is difficult, or nearly impossible, but those conditions
are nothing like this.
“There’s absolutely no way you’re going anywhere.”
About a 132-mile swath of the New York State Thruway
shut down.
Dildine is in a hotel, and says that he and the other guests, some of whom
have walked in off the Thruway after abandoning their vehicles, are safe. He’s
on the second floor, with a balcony, and says he doesn’t need to use the
escalator or the stairs.
“I can just use the snowdrift to descend to the ground floor.”
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