Tom Szczerbacki begins the task of removing the near two feet of snow as lake effect clouds loom in the sky over Lake Erie from his home on December 1, 2024 in Hamburg, New York. The North Eastern storm that closed a ninety mile stretch of The New York State Thruway and snarled holiday traffic across the country dumped more than four feet of snow around Buffalo and its southern suburbs and is expected to continue throughout the weekend. (Photo by John Normile/Getty Images)
