01/02/2026
It’s been a week of heavy snow and bitter cold here in Western New York State. But this morning the stir crazy was setting in and we had had enough hibernating, so we dug out and ventured to our favorite cafe in Westfield ( ) about a 20 minute drive past Chautauqua Lake, through Mayville and over the Chautauqua Ridge.
We have over 2 feet of snow at our house, with piles nearing 5 feet tall. As we drove past Chautauqua lake and through Mayville, a heavy snow squall blew in, with snow blowing sideways. At the top of the ridge, it was like entering a wild white snow globe to which someone had given a hard shake! Snow was swirling all around us.
And…
As so often happens, as we came down the hill toward Westfield and Lake Erie, it suddenly stopped. By the time we entered the village, it wasn’t snowing, and there was barely 6 inches in the ground. We are talking about the span -from whiteout blizzard to no snow falling -of about a mile or two. I think the snow bands blow off of Lake Erie, skip over Westfield, hit the elevation of the ridge, and…dump.
But such is the way of lake effect snow!
As my husband drove, I snapped a few photos along our drive. The steam boat is the Chautauqua Belle, in Mayville on the shore of Chautauqua Lake.
I also took some shots at the frozen and wildly beautiful shore of Lake Erie. I’ll share those in a later post.
Snow day
Winter
Winter weather
Great Lakes
Winter wonderland
New York State
Western New York
Photographer life
Winter photography
