Buffalo hit by THUNDERSNOW blizzard, as locals share clips of snow and lightning

Buffalo was toppled by a massive blizzard Thursday night, which brought with it a bizarre phenomenon known as “thunder snow.”

Videos of the blizzard showed piles of snow falling from the sky as lightning lit up the clouds and sent thunder clapping across the Arctic landscape.

The unusual phenomenon is unique to early-season lake-effect blizzards, according to meteorologists, and conditions in Buffalo are ripe for a night of thunder, lightning and snow.

The storm is expected to bury Buffalo and western New York over the weekend, with as much as six feet of snow expected by Sunday.

Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in preparation for the storm, which she described as “life-threatening.”

As the snow began to fall Thursday night, New York State residents began posting videos online of lightning flashing through the sky and thunder through the night.

“THUNDER SNOW!!!!!!” one explained in a video that showed a snow-covered neighborhood decked out in Christmas decor as thunder rang out.

A reporter for Spectrum News1, Kevin Hayes, posted a video of a last-minute trip to a Wegmans supermarket in Hamburg, New York.

The video captured a flash of lightning as snow poured down the supermarket parking lot, with a clap of thunder at its heels.

Thunderstorm blizzards are similar to typical summer thunderstorms, but bring snow instead of rain.

They usually occur during lake-effect storms in the early winter season, when warmer air coming off the lakes mixes with colder storm clouds, according to The New York Post.

In the Buffalo storm, air coming off Lake Erie — which still hovers around 52 degrees — collided with cold blizzard clouds and created electrical charges that erupted in lightning and thunder.

“When that happens, you get a lot of converging air on the surface and a lot of rising air in very narrow bands that cause very localized amounts of snow to just fall out,” said Geoff Bansen, a meteorologist for Fox News. The mail.

“Usually you don’t see a lot of light snow at events of this size; most snow is moderate to heavy, and it’s just a matter of where those moderate tires line up,” he said.

“It could be whiteout conditions at point A, and if your point B goes five miles away, it could be nothing.”

Governor Hochul urged western New Yorkers to stay off the road until 7 p.m. Friday night.

“When it comes down at that speed, it’s almost impossible to clear the road for safe travel, so you have to let the snow pile up,” she said.

About 80 miles of the New York Thruway was closed from 4 p.m. today in preparation for the storm.

“What we’re talking about is a big, big storm. This is considered an extreme event, an extreme weather event. That means it’s dangerous; it also means it’s life-threatening,” Hochul said as he declared a state of emergency.

The statement freed up state response and recovery resources and placed the National Guard on standby.