Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby reported live from the scene of ongoing heavy snow to the east of the Great Lakes on Dec. 2.
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00:00Our coverage continues right now, Bri, with storm chaser Aaron Rigsby.
00:04He is going to join us now live from Erie, Pennsylvania.
00:09Aaron, this has been an amazing event here and I see you made it into Erie.
00:13So what has been this event like for you looking at
00:17downwind of Lake Ontario earlier and now entering the area that got hammered east
00:21of Lake Erie?
00:24Yeah, good evening Jeff. Well, the snow continues to come down here and it's
00:28just been absolutely relentless over the last few days and I tell you the scene
00:32behind me is all too familiar from what I've been seeing over the last few days
00:35anywhere from here all the way up to Watertown on both Lake Erie and Ontario.
00:40I mean, I don't know how you can't look at this car behind me and some of these
00:43side streets and not be just an absolute awe at the snowfall totals
00:48that have been just raging across here this week. I mean,
00:51it is nothing short of impressive and a lot of these side streets
00:55are still a big mess. They're really bumpy, they're still snow covered and
00:59there's still a lot of vehicles spinning all over the place. Now, I will say
01:03there has been one thing that I've noticed this evening
01:06that has been kind of an underlying hazard is that
01:09there has been so much snow that has fallen over this area in such a short
01:13time that the sidewalks have completely
01:15filled with chest deep snow and everyone that is walking to and from
01:19work and commuting through this city is
01:22actually having to walk down the middle of the streets here. So,
01:26having to use a little bit of extra caution while driving around these areas
01:30this evening. That's pretty dangerous, very, very
01:32dangerous. So, really good to travel advisory there from you, Aaron.
01:37Anybody watching, whether you're in Erie or other areas,
01:40sidewalks are not an option for people. They're going to be out on the roads,
01:44very dangerous. Aaron, I know that you encountered some
01:47structural damage earlier today. We've been showing some of the footage
01:51that you caught with your drone. Can you tell us about that?
01:56Yeah, unfortunately, the weight of the snow that had fallen across
02:00areas of New York over the last few days, upwards of 50 inches of snow, was too
02:04much for one of the barns that unfortunately was housing a bunch
02:08of cows there. And I did confirm, I couldn't tell you how many were
02:13confirmed, but there has been confirmed reports
02:16that a few of the cattle were killed in that accident and that's a reason
02:20the owner actually had to scramble to get a bunch of the snow off of the other
02:24barn. So, it also didn't suffer the same fate and they had to have a lot of help
02:29from the local officials to herd a bunch of that cattle out and get them to a
02:32safe location to get them out of that debris pile.
02:35So, that's just one of many hazards that we've been dealing with over the last
02:38few days and will continue to be dealing with,
02:40especially here in Erie, Pennsylvania, where they can get upwards of another
02:44foot of snow by tomorrow morning. And we're watching this band here come
02:49in and is pushing south through the city or into the city.
02:51Aaron, be careful as you're out and about here. What's your plan for the final
02:55stage of this before the next Arctic front moves in?
03:00Yeah, well, while the band associated with the Watertown snow has wind down
03:04for the afternoon, I'm going to be right here in Erie, Pennsylvania, covering
03:07those remnant snow bands and see the impacts it's going to have
03:10on I-90 that it's been having over the last several days as well.
03:13All right, we can see up into areas around London, Ontario,
03:16upstream. The next band is kind of taking shape here,
03:20contributed by Lake Huron, and that's going to be
03:23re-energized by Lake Erie as that pushes south as well. Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby.
03:27Aaron, thanks so much for being with us here in Erie, PA.