As we keep our eyes on strong gusty winds for Saturday, we are also watching out for a significant lake effect snow event in the Buffalo area, and more specifically Orchard Park, on Sunday. Behind our system — which will bring us strong gusty winds, and power outage potentia — is a likely threat for heavy lake effect snow for those east of Lake Erie on Sunday. An all-important weekend for Western New York, as the Bills will host the Steelers for Super Wild Card Weekend at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The lake effect snow machine is expected to rev up on Saturday night, and be in full force by the time fans wake up Sunday morning. This will be thanks to the injection of arctic air that will move in late Saturday afternoon. Lake effect snow will likely set up for those just south of Buffalo Sunday morning and slowly wobble around the suburbs to the south of the city. Not only that, but the lake effect snow band will likely stretch into Genesee County, making travel along the Thruway treacherous. Through most of Sunday morning, the snow band is expected to sit right over or slightly to the north of Orchard Park before it moves in by kickoff. Lake effect snow looks to be heavy through most of the game and even right after around 4 p.m. After 4 p.m., the band will likely slowly drift south of Orchard Park, but still create travel problems for the surrounding areas. Snowfall rates within this band could reach anywhere between 2 and 4 inches per hour with visibility down to less than a tenth of a mile. Not only that, but temperatures will be bitter. Air temperatures are expected to sit near 20 degrees through the day on Sunday, including during the game. Winds will remain gusty too, as they gust upwards of 40 mph through Sunday afternoon. This will make for some bitter wind shills as they sit in the single digits. Also with the wind, there is a chance for visibility to be close to zero as blizzard conditions will be possible. If you do plan on heading to the game, expect travel issues in and around the Orchard Park area, so plan accordingly.

As of Friday morning, there have been no plans to move the game time or game location, but make sure you stick with Jackson Roberts and Mat Mlodzinskl for any updates on that.