The Niagara Region was once hit with a historic October storm — 30 cm of snow

This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.

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On Friday, October 13, 2006, the Niagara Region in Ontario was hit with an early snowstorm. The snow essentially shut down the entire area. The storm knocked out the power for almost all 30,000 residents in Fort Erie.

The snow fell on trees that were still lush with leaves, creating a canopy effect. The added weight of the snow caused the trees to break across the area.

Environment Canada (EC) shared that the storm brought "significant snowfalls of historic proportions."

"This really does stand out as a historic event and one that will be looked at by meteorologists in a number of years to come," said Geoff Coulson, EC meteorologist.

"A tree limb falls onto a truck on Granger Place in Buffalo." Courtesy of DragonFire1024/Wikipedia/CC BY 2.5

The very early storm brought Fort Erie and Port Colborne 30 cm of snow. The system also dumbed snow on Buffalo, N.Y., which closed the Peace Bridge.

It was the biggest snowstorm that the area received in October since record-keeping started in the 1870s.

The Ontario Provincial Police told people to stay off the roads until further notice. The blowing snow caused zero visibility, causing a section of the Queen Elizabeth Way to close.

Though town officials hoped that electricity would be restored within the day, many didn't get power back for eight days.

To learn more about the Fort Erie October snowstorm, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."

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