So I'm on the puddle jumper from my connection in Chicago on my way to Albany for the Stratton on snow demo and we fly over Buffalo. Check out this shot of a massive Lake Effect snow band sitting over the Southtowns. This weather anomaly is probably the reason I am in the snowboard industry. I remember waking up and being ready to skate all day and looking out the window to about 3+ feet of snow. What to do? Buy a Woody 145 and hit the golf course down the street for about 10 hours straight.
The bands usually started right at the Steel plant (as this one did) and stretched about 20 miles south just past Kissing Bridge. One wind shift could move the whole thing, which is basically a natural snowmaking machine, about 30 miles in either direction. We would watch TV and hope the lake never got above freezing, as it was the warm water vapor hitting the freezing cold air that got the flakes a flying. At one point I wanted to make "I Love the Lake Effect" tee shirts as I was sure I would sell shitloads to all the shreds in the area. I've had better ideas. I was'nt the only one who had respect obviously, as the bar at the base of Kissing Bridge (the resort I lived 10 minutes from) named their slopeside watering hole after the great storm maker.
