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#Snowvember: Buffalo buried under six feet of snow, with more falling

A historic storm continues to drop large amounts of snow in northern and eastern parts of the country, with Buffalo, N.Y., bearing the brunt of the damage. 

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Harry Scull Jr./The Buffalo News/AP
Omer Odovsc walks in front of his tractor trailer that got stuck on the 219 off ramp leading to Rt. 391 in Boston, N.Y., Tuesday. Parts of New York measured the season's first big snowfall in feet, rather than inches, on Tuesday as 3 feet of lake-effect snow blanketed the Buffalo area and forced the closure of a 132-mile stretch of the state Thruway.

The snowstorm that is dropping a year's worth of snow on Buffalo, N.Y., in three days and blanketing half of the United States showed few signs of abating Wednesday.

Temperatures will stay well below normal from the Great Plains region to the Atlantic Coast until as late as Friday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Southern regions such as Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley and western regions such as the Pacific Northwest and Northern California will also likely see increased rainfall in the coming days, NWS reports.

This follows what was deemed the coldest November day on record since 1976. But while all 50 states saw freezing temperatures Tuesday, some regions have been hit harder than others, with school closures and canceled flights among the casualties of the extreme weather. 

Buffalo is one of the areas that's born the brunt of this storm. It has been buried under nearly six feet of snow in 24 hours, according to The Buffalo News.

Deputy Erie County Executive Richard Tobe told Reuters that another wave of snowfall was expected to drop three more feet of snow by Wednesday night.

"That's a year's worth of snow," Mr. Tobe said. He added that a state of emergency is currently in effect in the area. Driving is also currently banned on several roads.

Time-lapse video footage of Lake Erie taken during the lake-effect snowstorm Tuesday shows a massive wall of gray clouds churning up snow.  

"This will be a historic event," Dave Zaff of the National Weather Service in Buffalo told The Buffalo News. "Absolutely. It is a historic event." 

Authorities say the "monster lake-effect snowstorm" was responsible for at least five deaths, according to the Buffalo news outlet. Two more deaths were reported in Michigan and New Hampshire.

Forecasters have noted the discrepancies in snowfall, even among areas relatively close together. For example, The Buffalo News reports a site near Lancaster, N.Y., saw 60 inches of snow while another site only six miles away from that spot has seen just 3.9 inches. 

"This storm is basically a knife that went right through the heart of Erie County, [New York]," Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz told CNN. "I can't remember and I don't think anyone else can remember this much snow falling in this short a period."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has also declared a state of emergency for 10 counties, including Erie County. This declaration deploys more than 1,000 transportation personnel to assist affected areas. In addition, National Guard troops have been sent to help Buffalo with recovery efforts, The Weather Channel reports.

This article includes material from Reuters.

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