More than 3 feet of lake-effect snow had fallen south of Lake Ontario by Thursday, while additional bands of lake-effect snow impacted the Great Lakes region through Saturday.

A few notable snow totals reported in Upstate New York as of Thursday night:

Mexico: 37 inchesParish: 37 inchesSoutheast of Minetto: 33.2 inchesOswego: 32 inchesHastings: 31 inches

A west-northwesterly flow of cold air brought the hefty snowfall totals to the area. Winds turned more southwesterly on Friday allowing the lake-effect snow band to shift farther north across Upstate New York.

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Lake-effect snow is common to the east and southeast of the Great Lakes and sometimes the snow is very heavy, especially if the wind direction is persistent for a long period of time.

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(Ken Libbrecht/SnowCrystals.com)