"October Surprise" - A very early snow storm, even for Buffalo. North Buffalo and its north-east suburbs (where I live), caught 2+ feet of heavy, wet snow overnight (Oct 12-13th). The rest of Western New York got hit as well. We lost many tree limbs and power, phones & cable-TV were out for days... up to a week or more for some. I was without for 5 days. Nearly 400,000 lost power in all. Costs could climb into the $250 million or more range to cleanup.