Holly Firfer: Buffalo suffers 'Erie' effects

CNN's Holly Firfer reports close to the storm's epicenter in upstate New York.

PEMBROKE, New York (CNN) -- The amount of snow that has fallen in the Buffalo, New York, area is enough to bury cars, porches, and small trees. Four days of snow piled a record 76.1 inches on Buffalo by Friday; another 6 to 12 inches are predicted to fall before Sunday.

CNN Correspondent Holly Firfer filed a report Friday in the middle of all that snow.

HOLLY FIRFER: I'm in Pembroke, New York, which is just east of the epicenter of the storm, just east of Buffalo. Believe it or not, about a month ago the weather was in the 60s. People were actually golfing in shorts. But those who were dreaming of a white Christmas really got what they wished for.

It's a familiar scene in upstate New York in the winter -- three to four feet of snow on the ground. What makes this year remarkably different from your average year is the amount of snow that fell in a 24-hour period. The storm that blew in on Christmas Eve left more than 1 million residents of Buffalo and its neighboring cities under two and a half feet of snow -- one for the record books.

On Thursday they measured the second biggest snowfall in one day. Weather forecasters blame this storm on the "lake effect," when large masses of cold air suck up moisture from Lake Erie, convert it to snow, and dump it on shore.

A partial state of emergency was declared [on Thursday]. Roads in a 50-mile vicinity were closed, stranding miles of motorists.

Buffalo snowplows are working around the clock in 12- hour shifts to clear roads and highways. The airport was closed, stranding hundreds of passengers and slowing air traffic nationwide. Residents are doing their part to get the city moving again.

Officials are saying that, on the upside, this storm happened during a holiday week. Schools and many businesses are closed, so not a lot of people have to venture out in this weather. The downside: There's nothing but snow [predicted] in the next seven days.