Findley Lake snow totals near 80 inches per week | News, sports, jobs

Main Street in Findley Lake is decked out for Christmas, complete with more than enough snow.

FINDLEY LAKE – Winter officially begins on Dec. 21, but in Findley Lake, like so many towns along the Great Lakes, winter weather came hard and fast the day after Thanksgiving.

According to Dr. Lin Baylis, executive director of Community Connections at Findley Lake, measured total snowfall from Black Friday through the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 79 inches. And it has continued to fall. . .

Baylis said the snowfall total for the winter of 2023-2024 was only 94 inches, which is about a foot more than this year’s total. She’s been helping keep track of snowfall since 2001, she said, when Bill Boria, former county water resources specialist at the Chautauqua County Health Department started a weather station in Findley Lake.

Baylis said the equipment is hardly scientific. “It would be a snowbox and ruler,” she said. “The snow box was built by Bill, according to the weather standards of the time. I measure the snow in the box at each corner and in the middle and then take an average.”

After each measurement, the box is cleared of snow until the next snowfall, Baylis said. “This last storm has required multiple measurements over multiple 24-hour periods,” she said.

Baylis said she started measuring the snowfall as a service to the community. “It’s not scientific by any means, but I can tell you the measurements are an accurate reflection of what fell in our yard,” she said. “It’s amazing how different the snowfall can be just going from the southwest end of Shadyside Road to Main Street in town. The showers that come through can be very specific to a single area.”

Although this winter has “started really well”, it has a long way to go to break the record in the city of Mina. Bayliss reports that since she started keeping track of snowfall, the 2008 record was 306 inches.

Baylis is the co-founder of Community Connections at Findley Lake, which seeks to connect area residents, especially seniors, with services they need. The heavy snowfall has not impaired the organization’s work, she said.

“We instituted our Code Blue emergency calls,” Baylis said. “All of our staff did a wellness check on our customers. Several trips to grocery stores and pharmacies were made by our staff and our volunteers as soon as we could get out. One of our college students, Greg Brumagin, spent a lot of time helping with shoveling paths and driveways to help.”

If you talk to people on the street about the snowfall, chances are many of them will say they’re already sick of snow, but not Bayliss. “You always worry about everyone’s safety, but I personally love it!” she said. “We need snow for the economy and for the ecosystem in this area. I say ‘bring it on.'”