Last Thursday, October 12 (Columbus Day) started out innocently enough. There was some snow falling early in the afternoon, but it didn’t look like anything was going to stick. By 6pm things were starting to look much different. I decided it was time to take a ride around with my camera in search of some interesting photos to shoot. Snow was sticking to the trees and the roads were getting pretty messy. Still, I didn’t think things were going to get as bad as they did. As I was driving down Parkside Avenue, near the zoo, I came across a large part of a tree that was laying on the road from curb to curb. Traffic heading toward Hertel was backed up onto the 198. After taking a bunch of photos, I returned home about 6:50 pm. I was just starting to edit the pictures and the power went out. Faced with the possibility of extended darkness, I dug out candles and set them up in every room of my apartment. I also managed to find enough good batteries for a couple of flashlights and a radio. I listened in amazement as the number of people without out power started at about 10,000 and quickly grew. Eventually reaching about 400,000 people without electricity. About 11 pm I figured it was time to venture out on another camera expedition. This one lasted a couple of hours. I have never seen to many trees and branches down. It looked like a hurricane had hit the whole area. Below is a picture of the railroad viaduct on Parkside looking toward Linden Avenue. The following picture was taken at the intersection of a couple of side streets in North Buffalo somewhere in between Tacoma and Taunton. Continue Reading “Buffalo Snowstorm - The October Surprise” »