Buffalo Bills fans will have to wait an extra day to see their team take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.
On Saturday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the Bills-Steelers game, originally scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 14, at 1 p.m., had been postponed to Monday, Jan. 15, at 4:30 p.m., with lake-effect snow expected to drop two to three feet of snow in parts of Western New York.
“I’ve been in communication with @NFL commissioner Roger Goodell regarding the dangerous conditions in Buffalo this weekend. In consultation with our emergency response teams, @BuffaloBills leadership, and the NFL, the Bills game will be postponed to 4:30 pm Monday,” the governor posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
In addition to postponing the game, the state will implement a full travel ban in Erie County beginning Saturday at 9 p.m.
On Friday, Hochul declared a state of emergency in 15 New York counties ahead of the potentially dangerous weekend storm that’s expected to hit communities along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario on Saturday night.
The storm is expected to bring “blizzard-like, whiteout conditions” upstate starting Saturday night and lasting through Monday morning, when temperatures are expected to drop into single digits.
The state of emergency applies to the following counties: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Oswego and Wyoming.
Strong wind gusts are expected to increase to 70 mph and will likely cause power outages and freezing cold wind chills.
NY SNOW PREDICTION
Tom Kines, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather, told the Advance/SILive.com that lake-effect snow can be unpredictable, but some areas could see as much as 3 feet of accumulation.
“If you know anything about lake-effect snow, it varies from one location to another quite a bit, but there’s going to be places in Western New York and probably near Orchard Park where…
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