Snowstorm kills 8 in New York

Washington: A massive early season snowstorm has pounded the Buffalo city area in western New York state, dumping record snowfalls, trapping people in cars and homes and killing eight people, US authorities said.

Even in a city famous for blizzards that roar off Lake Erie shared with Canada, this one stunned Buffalo locals. It even featured the unusual phenomenon of "thundersnow" -- in which snow falls instead of rain during a storm. Another forecaster said he was at a loss of words to describe it.

Many areas south of Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls, were socked with up to 1.8 meters in less than 24 hours. The snowfall was expected to continue. "Some parts of our county are going to receive a year's worth of snowfall in three days," Erie county executive Mark Poloncarz told local media. He added that three people died from apparent heart attacks while shoveling snow, and another while pushing a trapped car. The blizzard was weirdly localised.

While 1.5 meters of snow was reported at a site just southeast of the town of Lancaster, only 10 kilometres to the northwest just 10 centimetres fell at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the Buffalo News newspaper said.