UAlbany Researchers Launch Winter Storm Preparedness Tool for Erie County
By Mike Nolan
ALBANY, N.Y. (Dec. 9, 2025) — With the winter season now upon us, Erie County residents have a new tool available at their fingertips to ensure they are prepared for the next major snowfall.
In 2023, researchers at the University at Albany received $350,000 from Erie County officials in Western New York to create a winter weather tool that offers real-time information on the severity and path of storms, along with support for writing effective alert messages.
The result is the Erie County Winter Weather Storm Scale, a public website rich with weather information to help people make informed decisions and stay safe.
“When winter weather hits, our response is predicated on having the best, most up-to-date information on what’s happening and where,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “Knowing the severity, path and projected timeline of winter storms is a huge aid in keeping roads as clear as possible and residents as safe as possible.”
The Winter Weather Storm Scale
To create the winter weather storm scale, Erie County leaders turned to the Center of Excellence in Weather & Climate Analytics, a hub of researchers at UAlbany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center that develop tools that help businesses and government operate safely—and more efficiently—in the face of extreme weather.
The web-based tool features color-coded maps detailing the impacts of snow events at both the countywide and local level. Storms are rated on a one-to-five scale based on the National Weather Service’s Winter Storm Severity Index, along with data on impacted populations and infrastructure.
Also included are cross-sections of the New York State Thruway in Erie and adjacent counties showing expected weather impacts, as well as maps detailing blowing-snow impacts and their locations, snowfall probabilities and storm histories.
“This project is a great example of how our weather and emergency management expertise across campus can directly help New Yorkers make better decisions around severe storms,” said Nick Bassill, who directs UAlbany’s State Weather Risk Communication Center and research and development at the Center of Excellence. “What’s particularly rewarding is seeing Erie County not just use the tool internally, but actively promote it publicly, which shows they really find value in what we’ve built for them.”
“Building this kind of publicly accessible tool was a first for me,” added Matthew Seymour, a research support specialist at the Center of Excellence. “What made it especially meaningful was knowing that Erie County leaders can use something we built to better prepare for winter storms. We’ve made a difference in how they protect their community during severe weather events.”
The tool also features a messaging template generator, developed by researchers at UAlbany’s Emergency and Risk Communication Message Testing Laboratory, that Erie County officials can use to craft public alerts for different storm scenarios.
Weather information is updated hourly, approximately 15 minutes past the hour, using the latest available NOAA data.
Localized Weather Information
Erie County hosted a press conference in late November to announce the tool's launch and availability to the public. The announcement coincided with the region’s first significant lake-effect snow forecast of the season.
Following its debut, Bassill says the rating scale has the capability to be customized for other counties across the state.
"The underlying technology could theoretically be adapted for any county in the state, whether it's New York City, Albany, Jefferson County, or elsewhere,” Bassill said. “It’s important that state and local emergency managers have localized weather information available to them.”