- The Bills are scheduled to play the Steelers at 4:30 p.m. ET after being pushed back 24 hours
- But Orchard Park is still covered in snow on a freezing Monday morning
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The Buffalo Bills posted a picture of the ominous scene in bitterly cold Orchard Park, just hours before they play the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL playoffs.
The game, which was postponed from Sunday to Monday due to bitterly cold and snowy weather in Western New York, was in danger of being postponed again after another day of snow raised the possibility of another postponement.
It remains to be seen whether the show will take place on Monday afternoon. The weather service expects heavy lake snow to move from Lake Erie into New York state, adding to the 1 to 2 feet of snow already blanketing the region.
On Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she expected the game to start as scheduled, but the scene around the stadium suggested otherwise.
The Bills are even paying fans $20 an hour — and offering free hot drinks and breakfast — to clear the snow to get the game started.
The Buffalo Bills posted a picture of the threatening scene in bitterly cold Orchard Park
A worker helps clear snow from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park on Sunday
Footage posted overnight by a member of the Volunteer Army showed huge piles of snow still covering the stands and pitch.
The walkways from the hall to the playing field were also cordoned off and the playing field resembled an ice rink.
Logan Eschrich, a professional storm chaser, came to Buffalo to witness the blizzard and actually stayed there to shovel.
Sniffling and shivering from the cold, Eschrich described the seemingly impossible task he and his estimated 85-person shoveling crew faced while being paid $20 an hour.
The wind was blowing at a speed of 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) and the snow was falling at a rate of 2 inches (5 centimeters) per hour for the actual start of the game at 1:00 p.m. EST, which was set for Monday at 4:30 p.m clock was moved.
“It would have been absolutely impossible (to play). “We could barely see the next row from us,” he told the AP.
“And unfortunately it's still like that.” “We've made progress with shoveling, but not much at all.”
Fans like this man were invited to shovel the Bills' stadium in Orchard Park for $20 an hour
While Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park is no stranger to snow, additional manpower was still needed
He said the bleacher seats were completely buried in snow, adding that it was treacherous driving just two blocks from the stadium where he was staying.
“I'm very glad they put the travel ban in effect,” said Eschrich, who works for Live Storms Media and made the 16-hour trip north from Alabama to capture video of tornadoes. “No one should be out here.”
The Buffalo area, which includes the Bills' home in Orchard Park, was largely at a standstill as a travel ban was in effect due to a dangerous lake-effect storm that began Saturday and was expected to last through Sunday night.
The storm was expected to dump between 1 and 3 feet of snow, with the heaviest accumulation around Orchard Park.
With the brunt of the storm expected to subside by Sunday night, the National Weather Service forecast the possibility of snow showers in the morning on Monday and a high of 19 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-7 degrees Celsius), although with strong winds of minus-5 (minus-21).
Bills players and staff spent Sunday at home. The Steelers arrived Sunday afternoon after travel restrictions were lifted at Buffalo Niagara International Airport and northern parts of Erie County.