southern Erie County, Buffalo's county. The total November snowfall was recorded as in Buffalo. December was cold and snowy, with an average temperature of . Like November, December's average temperature was also about below normal. December's snowfall was . Daily snow depth readings varied from , with a maximum measured snow depth of at 3:40 p.m. on December 2. Lake Erie froze over by December 14; this was a record. An ice-covered Lake Erie usually puts an end to lake effect snowstorms, because the wind cannot pick up moisture from the lake's surface, convert the moisture to snow and then dump it when the winds reach shore. The wintry weather continued in January, with the monthly average temperature being , the coldest on record (records began in 1870 in Buffalo). January's average temperature was below normal. It never rose to freezing in Buffalo that month, the first January that had occurred. Prior to January 28, the day the blizzard started, it had snowed almost every day since just after Christmas. By January 27, Buffalo's snow depth was . There was continuous snow cover from November 29 until the day of the blizzard, and of snow had fallen that winter prior to the blizzard – in January alone – well above normal even for a city that averages about of snowfall per year. This resulted in a snow depth of on the day the blizzard started. Low pressure crossed Lake Erie on January 27 and moved to James Bay; it became stalled east of James Bay. Then the storm moved back west over James Bay before finally moving east to the Canadian Maritimes. Prelude Even before the blizzard hit, the Niagara Mohawk Power Company (which is now National Grid) had warned that snow was reaching the power lines in some areas of western New York. Also, on Thursday, January 27, severe natural gas shortages forced industries and schools to either curtail activities or to close. The governors of Minnesota, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey had also declared energy emergencies. Early in the week of the blizzard, James Lindner, Commissioner of Street Sanitation for the City of Buffalo, estimated approximately 20% of cars in the city of Buffalo were illegally parked or abandoned, limiting the ability of snowplows to clear side streets and making many of them impassable. A concentrated effort to plow (and tow as necessary) – called the "Snow