A powerful winter storm lashed large parts of upstate New York this week, bringing hurricane-force wind gusts that uprooted trees, downed power lines and, in one dramatic incident, knocked a woman off her feet.
“I went flying”
Diane Miller, a resident of Hamburg, was caught on camera being blown into bushes when violent winds hit the area on Monday. The incident occurred when she opened the door at her daughter’s home in Lackawanna during errand runs.
“It happened so quickly, I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Miller told WKBW. “Never in a million years did I think I would go flying in the air like a kite.”
Describing the moment the gusts struck, she said, “I opened her door, and the wind caught me, and I went flying.” Miller added, “I’ve never experienced a storm with this much wind; that’s why I didn’t anticipate getting thrown in the air.”
Videos of the incident have been going viral online.
New York sees windy days
Wind gusts exceeding 70 mph were reported across western New York on Monday, with Buffalo Airport recording a peak gust of 79 mph — narrowly missing the city’s all-time record of 82 mph set in February 1967, according to local media.
{{/usCountry}}Wind gusts exceeding 70 mph were reported across western New York on Monday, with Buffalo Airport recording a peak gust of 79 mph — narrowly missing the city’s all-time record of 82 mph set in February 1967, according to local media.
{{/usCountry}}The storm system swept across the Great Lakes and the Northeast, placing more than 40 million people under winter weather alerts. It followed a rapidly intensifying system — known as a bomb cyclone — that tore through the Midwest, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes.
A surge of Arctic air behind the storm brought plunging temperatures, heavy snowfall and biting winds to much of the region. Forecasters warned that the cold snap would extend far south, with below-freezing temperatures expected as far as the Florida panhandle.
Some parts of western and upstate New York recorded more than a foot of snow on Monday, with totals forecast to reach up to three feet in the coming days. Strong winds — including an 81 mph gust in Buffalo — toppled trees and power lines, worsening travel conditions.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul warned residents to stay off the roads as whiteout conditions threatened parts of the state, including the Syracuse metropolitan area. “If you're in an impacted area, please avoid all unnecessary travel,” she said in a post on X.