When the weather outside is unusually bad, it’s best to stay home. While you might think it’s okay to travel safely from point A to point B, that might not always be the case, such as in the case of a nursing student in Buffalo, New York, who never made it home when she got caught in a winter storm.

According to CNN, Buffalo, New York, received 52 inches of snow over Christmas weekend and 37 people died due to the storm in Buffalo alone.

Rescuing people trapped by the storm became particularly difficult due to the winter weather. The storm was so bad that even rescue crews got trapped and had to be rescued.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz told “CNN This Morning,” “We had to send specialized rescue crews to go get the rescuers.” He added, “It was just horrendous, and it was horrendous for 24 hours in a row.”

Buffalo is no stranger to snow. Poloncarz said, “We’re used to snow here, we can handle snow.” It might be easy to wonder why the city had so much trouble dealing with the snow during this particular storm. Poloncarz explained, “With the wind, the blinding views – it was complete whiteouts – and the extreme cold, it was some of the worst conditions that any of us have ever seen.”

Snow and ice may look beautiful in pictures. The phrase “winter wonderland” exists for a reason after all, because snow and ice can truly transform an otherwise ordinary landscape into a “wonderland;” however, during an extreme blast of winter weather, that “wonderland” can also take on an extreme nature.

On December 25, Christmas Day, Mo News posted a video of the extreme winter weather conditions in Buffalo, New York. After seeing this video, we completely understand how someone could become stranded in their vehicle or even inside their home.

Instead of a light dusting of snow that transforms the landscape into an idealic white Christmas, this video shows icicles that appear to be feet long handing from rooftops. In fact, entire buildings are completely covered in snow and ice.

Mo News captioned the video, “Wild scenes near Buffalo on the coast of Lake Erie where homes have been encased in ice from several days of storms.”

 

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One person commented on the video, “For context—hurricane force winds off a Great Lake mixed with freezing temps and snow. Very rare…very severe.”