Ice boom breaks for 4th time this year

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The lack of ice on the lake is creating challenges for the NY Power Authority. The ice boom has broken for the fourth time this year.

This winter has been a rare one for western New York. There hasn’t been many years where you don’t see ice on the lake. This leaves the ice boom open to wave and wind damage.

"As of Friday, for the fourth time there was a breakage in the boom. And today, the New York Power Authority has been trying to fix it," said Paul Yu, the Chief of Water Management for the Buffalo Corp of Engineers.

Usually there are specific requirements that need to be met based on the lake temperatures to have the boom removed, but with the lack of ice and the amount of damage it has taken, it could be removed earlier then it ever has before.

Yu said, "I am sure we will have some discussions on that. The earliest it has been removed has been March 5th. The decision to remove the ice boom will be made jointly between the power entities, both U.S. and Canadian, as well as several federal agencies."

It is not just the lake that is lacking in ice. The area creeks and streams aren't seeing much either, which is actually a good thing because WNY is less likely to see ice jams and it limits the flooding potential.

But does the open lake mean for more snow later?

Jeff Wood of the National Weather Service explained, "I think one of the common misconceptions we hear a lot is because the lake is not frozen we are going to see more lake effect snow later in the winter into early spring. But if you actually look at the years, there have been three or four other years where the lake hasn’t frozen, if you look into late February and early March the correlation isn’t really there."

Some of the years with the least amount of snow has come when the lake is open and not had ice on it. Also, since December 1st, WNY is about average for the amount of precipitation that has fallen - it just hasn’t been all snow.