BUFFALO (AP) -- Ice is consolidating over Lake Erie like a lid on a pot, which should calm down the lake-effect snowstorms.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Bill Hibbert says the lake has been freezing up over the past week and is now about 90 percent covered by ice. That means there should be far less lake-effect snow blowing into western New York.

The winds off the lake will still bring some lake-effect snow to the region, though. Hibbert says that's because the ice, which is about 32 degrees, is warmer than the cold air blowing across it.

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