The snow emergency that has closed schools, businesses and government buildings throughout Erie County as flakes continue to fall on feet already on the ground hasn't slowed the workload for area first responders.

After a mild start to fall, Erie, Pennsylvania, got its first major snowstorm of the season over the holiday weekend, blanketing the region with significant snowfall. On Black Friday, Erie International Airport recorded 22.6 inches of new snow, breaking the city’s previous one-day snowfall record of 21.8 inches set on December 26, 2017.

One report from southwest Erie logged 30 inches of snow -- as of 10:30 p.m. Friday, before the lake-effect dumping continued overnight.

A lake-effect storm continued to blanket parts of the Great Lakes region with snow on Saturday, closing highways on one of the biggest travel weekends of the year and prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York to declare a state of emergency on Friday in 11 counties.

Since it began early Friday morning, the lake effect storm has dumped several feet of snow in some areas. The snow fell at such an unrelenting pace that street crews have been unable to keep pace. Hundreds of holiday travelers were stranded on major highways Friday like i-90 and had to abandon their cars.