Bills 35, 49ers 10

In grade six geography we learned about orographic precipitation where moisture-laden air rises as it meets mountainous terrain, then cools, then dumps its moisture in elevated areas often in the form of snow. This is why alpine areas can receive epic amounts of snow, often within a short time-frame. In the Kootenay Mountains of the southern interior of British Columbia – an area I am quite familiar with – daily dumps of 60 to 80cm which continue for several days make for fantastic skiing and can deliver up to ten metres of snow in the high alpine by spring. I don’t recall learning about a comparable phenomenon which can impact areas to the lee of the Great Lakes, at least early in the winter season. Lake effect snow is the reason why Collingwood, Ontario and Ellicottville, New York have traditionally been good ski areas with massive early season dumps of snow which create a deep base which usually lasts until April. This past weekend, lake effect snow made headlines in Ontario, western New York and northeast Pennsylvania. I experienced it first-hand in one of the worst-hit areas.

No, I didn’t make the drive into the snow bomb which hit the “South Towns” of western New York. That only delivered around two feet of snow to Orchard Park and Highmark Stadium. Just a dusting compared to what we got in the Muskoka area of central Ontario where between Thursday afternoon and Sunday close to a metre of snow fell over that period, stranding motorists, closing highways and knocking power out to more than 150,000 Hydro One customers, me among them. Power is still out on our lake on this Monday morning as crews work to re-connect the last 40,000 customers. The latest official estimate of our re-connection time is 2pm today. It could and probably will take longer than that. I heat my cottage with an airtight woodstove anyway so warmth is not a problem and I do have a stand-by generator which, unfortunately for me, is not working properly, delivering power to only a few circuits. With some creativity and a few extension cords, I was able to power my television and satellite receiver to watch football yesterday and my internet to publish this blog today – although later than usual.

A metre of snow sounds nice enough in terms of setting up the skiing season and creating a stunning looking winter wonderland made even more striking against the backdrop of an unfrozen lake. But it can also lead to an uneasy feeling where you’re sort of trapped with no access to the outside world – at least until the plow comes through, then comes through again, then two more times after that. Before football started yesterday, I made my way down to the dock through hip-deep snow to the buried satellite dish to clear it and trim some snow-laden limbs overhanging it. That took about 30 minutes and was more exhausting than I would have expected. Two neighbours on the far side of the lake - both recently widowed women in their early 80s - experienced generator failures and would have been in real trouble but for our snow-plow guy who doubles as a general handyman and is everyone’s first call for help. He was able to clear snow from the air intakes of each generator and get them going again, saving the day. If he wasn’t around or if he had an accident, fell ill or had some other emergency, some folks who have chosen to live at the cottage would be well-advised to re-think that plan. Sections of Highway 11 remain closed this morning and the Town of Gravenhurst has declared a State of Emergency which the mayor expects will last well into Tuesday.

As I gradually turned my attention from the snow to the Bills v. 49ers game, reports of the possibility of several feet of snow in Orchard Park led to speculation about postponing or moving the game as has happened twice in the past 10 years – in 2014 and again two years ago when these two Bills home games were moved to Detroit. The logistics of clearing roads, parking lots and the stadium itself of several feet of snow on 24 hours notice obviously presents challenges. While two feet of snow is considerable and had it amounted to much more than that, the NFL would have had a scheduling nightmare if last night’s game could not go ahead. But go ahead it did in light but continuous snow.

Josh Allen became the first quarterback in NFL history to score touchdowns running, passing and receiving. The running and passing ones were nothing new to Bills fans but the receiving one was quite remarkable as Amari Cooper channeled his inner Travis Kelce, making a very difficult catch at the five-yard line then in an unscripted move, flipped the ball to Allen who lunged to the pylon and scored. The Bills certainly earned the win but the 49ers started the game with a strong running game but were touched by bad luck once again as fullback Josh Juszczyk had the ball punched from his hands on his way into the endzone on their first drive of the second half. A touchdown there would have made the score 21-10 but the Bills scored next to extend their lead to 28-3 putting the game out of reach. The Bills seemed to handle the slippery conditions relatively well while the NBC broadcast repeatedly showed 49ers players losing their footing at critical moments.

The Bills are AFC East champions for the fifth consecutive season. At least one home playoff game will be played in Orchard Park in January. The first overall seed in the AFC remains within reach but depends on the Chiefs losing at least one more time. They squeaked out another win on Friday as the Raiders managed to implode on their final and potentially game-winning drive. Up next for the Bills is a trip to the west coast to face the Los Angeles Rams at Sofi Stadium next Sunday at 4.25pm.