On Friday evening, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the following counties were placed in a state of emergency because of snowfall accumulation and hazardous conditions. The following counties were placed in a state of emergency – Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Genesee, Allegany and Wyoming.

Most area schools were closed Monday after lake effect snow made its presence felt in the county. Inclement weather forced the following closures: Cassadaga Central School, Dunkirk City Schools, Brocton Central; Chautauqua Lake Central Schools, All Chautauqua Opportunities Inc. sites, Falconer Central Schools, Westfield Central, BOCES – Hewes Educational Center in Asheville and LoGuidice Educational Center in Fredonia, Frewsburg Central, Fredonia Central Schools, Jamestown Community College’s North Campus in Dunkirk, Panama, Jamestown Public Schools – no after school activities, Forestville Central, Pine Valley Central, Ripley Central, SUNY Fredonia, Sherman Central, Westfield Academy, Frewsburg, Sherman, Clymer, Silver Creek, Silver Creek, Forestville and Southwestern Central School District all closed for the day.

According to the National Weather Service, moderate to locally heavy lake effect snow will continue through Tuesday across the western Southern Tier southeast of Lake Erie with significant additional accumulations. The forecaster’s discussion on the weather service website states the lake effect snow has adjusted to a new northwest flow direction. Most of the snow will focus on Chautauqua and western Cattaraugus counties today through Tuesday. An upstream connection to Lake Huron is becoming established this morning and will continue to meander across the western Southern Tier today through Tuesday, locally enhancing the snowfall.

However, some government officials say their and road departments are up to the task of keeping their roads safe.

Many roads have been plowed like the ones at Brooklyn Square. However, The National Weather Service models show Jamestown receiving an additional 7 to 15 inches of snow through Thursday morning while Dunkirk could see an additional 8 to 21 inches of snow. Fredonia could see an additional 12 to 28 inches of snow.

“Our streets are plowed and cleared for the most part,” said Busti Town Supervisor Jessie Robbins. “We’ve got one of the best road departments in the county and they’re doing an amazing job.”

Robbins, out of abundance of caution, cancelled the Town of Busti board meeting The Jamestown City Council also canceled its meeting Monday.

As the snow continues to fall and accumulate some local businesses are feeling the pinch to plow their properties and walkways.

“We plowed our parking lot this morning,” said Anne Greene, the executive director for the James Prendergast Library, located at 509 Cherry St. “However, we’ve had to call in our contractors for a second plow, because the snow keeps on falling.”

Weather service models show Jamestown receiving an additional 7 to 15 inches of snow through Thursday morning while Dunkirk could see an additional 8 to 21 inches of snow. Fredonia could see an additional 12 to 28 inches of snow.

While Lakeview Avenue has been plowed, snow is continuing to fall, and it is estimated that Jamestown could receive another additional 7 to 15 inches of snow between Monday and Thursday.

“Snow intensity will not be as great as the past few days, but still could occasionally reach 1-2 inches per hour where the Lake Huron connection is superimposed on upslope areas of the Chautauqua Ridge,” the discussion states. “Additional accumulations today through Tuesday will still add up to impressive amounts given the persistence of the favorable setup. Expect another 12-20 inches of additional accumulation across the higher terrain of Chautauqua and western Cattaraugus counties over the next 36 hours. The heaviest snow from this point forward in this northwest flow regime will focus across the higher terrain inland from the lake, with much less along the immediate shoreline including the NYS Thruway corridor.”

At a Monday video press conference, County Executive PJ Wendel, advised residents to be mindful when they are travelling and to be cautious as various municipalities continue to plow and remove snow. See the companion story in today’s edition of The Post-Journal and at post-journal.com.

For more information visit www.weather.gov/buf.