here in hamburg. we are along the shores of a very angry lake erie. wave heights, 14 to 18 feet are expected today. officials had to evacuate a neighborhood nearby us because there are concerns of flooding in the homes there. you can already see this parking lot starting to fill up with lake water. now, we are also, of course, concerned about the snow totals, up to three feet of snow, potentially more. a wind gust of 72 miles per hour measured at buffalo niagara airport, gusts up to 80, 85 miles per hour possible. road conditions are very tough, and a no travel advisory, a travel ban has been issued in buffalo and surrounding erie county. very, very tough travel conditions. whiteout in some places. just have to stay off the roads.
that occurs when cold air blows over warmer lake water, picking up more moisture and leading to higher snow amounts downstream. climate experts warn water temperatures in the great lakes grow increasingly warmer each year, shortening the length of time ice covers the surface during the winter. i just want to remind everything that there is a lake effect warning still in effect. this thing is still moving. so we still need to take this seriously. reporter: polo sandoval, cnn, buffalo, new york. cnn meteorologist derek van dam joins us now live from the cnn weather center with more on all this. derek. laila, these snow totals i m g about to show you are just mind-boggling, but you ve got to see this almost an elevated view time-lapse of a snow squall. this is the lake-effect snow band moving over downtown buffalo earlier on friday, and you can see the extreme whiteout conditions that just basically inundate and take over the city. this is a very narrow band of