iStockphoto / Victoria Kotlyarchuk
Those that live in Buffalo are not strangers to large amounts of snow. The city, situated up against Lake Erie, gets a remarkable 95 inches of snow on average each year.
There are places in the United States that have not had 95 inches of snow total in the nation’s history. To put it in perspective, New York City, a place many in warmer areas think may as well be the North Pole, gets around 25 inches of snow per year.
And, with the Buffalo Bills playing in an outdoor Highmark Stadium, that means the weather can sometimes really come into play late in the season. We saw this last year when a December game between the Bills and the Patriots was a weather disaster. That day the issue was the wind that was sustained at above 25mph and gusts much higher. The Patriots won the game 14-10, despite Mac Jones only throwing for 19 yards.
And, just a few weeks ago the team had to move a game to Detroit due to wild amounts of snow.
The Bills have not played many home playoff games in the last few decades, though they did get one last year when they blew out the Patriots. But, the possibility has always remained that monstrous late regular season games and possibly playoff games could be played in huge snowstorms in Buffalo.
And while it’s not the playoffs yet, we’re just hours away from a huge game involving the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins that will be played in wild conditions.
Up to two feet of snow is expected to fall in Buffalo prior to Saturday’s game
Saturday night’s game will feature two of the best teams in the AFC in the Bills and the Dolphins. And, the stakes are high. If Buffalo wins, they will basically clinch the division title and will officially clinch a playoff berth. But, if they lose to the Dolphins, their probability of winning the division drops to 68%. And, Miami would now have a decent shot at it with 29%, according to this model.
But, it won’t be a normal football game.
Checking in down at High Mark Stadium in Orchard Park. Less than 24 hours to kickoff and the snow bands are rolling in off Lake Erie. Expecting up to 2’ by kickoff tomorrow night! @ReedTimmerAccu @JimCantore @andyparkertv @TomNiziol @weather_buffalo #NYwx #billsmafia pic.twitter.com/26t3Pp5QVf
— BuffaloSnowKing (@BuffaloSnowKing) December 17, 2022
Wow, two feet of snow. Not sure if any of you have experienced two feet of snow in one day before, but it’s truly wild. Everything comes to a halt in most places. But, the Buffalo area is pretty used to dealing with these situations and moving snow quickly.
The big question will be how do the warm-weather Dolphins adapt. It’s certainly not conditions they’re used to, and Tua Tagovailoa has been a warm weather quarterback his entire life. In a game they must win at Buffalo, they had to have hoped for better weather circumstances.