Snow in the winter of Rochester, NY

In December 2007, we experienced a huge snowstorm with snow accumulation of 16'' (40 cm) in just one day.

But that was not an off day even with such terrible weather. Actually, I was never informed that I can take one or half day off due to snowstorm. Workers have to start to clean all the snow in early 5A.M. And I have to drive 9 miles to work. During such days, I generally leave at least 15mins to clean my wife's and my cars.

Here's some information I cited from Wiki about so-called "snow effect".

"Cold winds in the winter typically prevail from the northwest in the Great Lakes region, producing the most dramatic lake-effect snow falls on the east to south shores of the Great Lakes. This lake-effect produces a significant difference between the snow fall on the eastern and western shores of the Great Lakes."

"Lake-effect snows on the Tug Hill Plateau (east of Lake Ontario) frequently set the daily records for snowfall in the United States. Syracuse, New York is directly south of the Tug Hill Plateau and receives significant lake-effect snow from Lake Ontario (although less than the Tug Hill Plateau by as much as 200 inches (508 cm)). In fact, Syracuse receives so much snowfall it is often considered the "snowiest" large city in America, averaging 115.6" (293.6 cm) of snow a year. Syracuse has frequently won the "Golden Snowball" award, a NOAA regional contest for greatest annual snowfall among large Upstate New York snowbelt cities. The communities of Redfield in Oswego County and Montague and North Osceola in Lewis County, all on the Tug Hill Plateau, average over 300 inches (762 cm) of snow a winter, with more than 400 inches (1,016 cm) falling during harsh winters. A 24 hour record for the contiguous United States occurred on January 11th-12th 1997 when 77" (196 cm) of snow fell in Montague, a total of 95 inches (241 cm) of snow falling in that storm between the 11th and 14th. (Source, National Weather Service, Buffalo.) In February, 2007, a prolonged lake-effect snow event left over 100 inches (254 cm) of snow on the Tug Hill Plateau.

Lake-effect snow from the Finger Lakes occurs in upstate New York as well, until those lakes freeze over. The Appalachian Mountains and Atlantic Ocean largely shield New York City and Philadelphia from picking up any lake-effect snow; snow there tends to come from storm systems mixing with cold weather."