Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon announced Friday night that the city's winter parking regulations will go into effect at 6 a.m. Saturday due to the forecasted snowfall.
Winter parking regulations were going to go into effect at 1:30 a.m. Monday after being previously pushed back due to unseasonably warm weather.
Overnight parking on bus routes is prohibited between 1:30-7 a.m. and daytime parking will not be permitted on side streets with alternating parking.
Officials also announced that a Code Blue will be in place Friday night in Erie County and the city of Buffalo.
586 Genesee St. and Dulski Center at 129 Lewis St. will be open as warming centers from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Friday. 586 Genesee St will also be open for daytime warming on Saturday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday declared a state of emergency for multiple counties across western and northern New York, including Erie County.
After an unusually mild fall, forecasters say as much as 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) of snow is possible along Lake Erie and south of Buffalo from lake-effect bands notorious for pummeling the region with snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) per hour.
The New York State Thruway Authority announced Friday evening that all commercial vehicles are ban from the I-90 in both directions from Exit 46 (Rochester - Corning - I-390) to the Pennsylvania state line until further notice.
The Buffalo Bills called for volunteers potentially willing to shovel snow at Highmark Stadium, where over 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow was possible before Sunday night's game against the San Francisco 49ers.
“It’s going to be slow going, there’s no doubt about that,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said, adding the heaviest snow is expected to be over by kickoff.
Forecasters warned 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) of blowing and drifting snow could fall in Watertown and other areas east of Lake Ontario through Monday.
"It's not five feet of snow or seven feet of snow, but two to three feet of snow means that it's also going to be snowing when people are trying to clear it out," Poloncarz said. "So we're going to recommend everybody to take as much caution as possible when you're trying to get to the game on Sunday."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.