inundated by storms and millions
of residents remain under flood
watch.
Western New York is still
recovering from last month's
historic lizard that dropped
more than four feet of snow on
Buffalo.
We examined the frequency of
extreme winter weather and the
debate about its potential links
to climate change.
Reporter: Longtime Buffalo
residents had never seen a
winter storm quite like this
one.
For much of the city's Christmas
week blizzard he was doing
wellness checks as part of a
volunteer group in his eased
Buffalo neighborhood.
He shot this video in near white
conditions.
You have lived in Buffalo your
whole life.
Have you ever seen a storm like
this ?
>> Not like this.
Especially with the wind, the
wind made it extra worse.
Reporter: Morris later found out
that his own father was among
the more than 40 residents
killed around Buffalo as a
result of the blizzard.
65-year-old Morris senior, a man
known for his flashy suits, died
trying to walk to a grocery
store.
His body was later found in a
snow bank.
>> He was so flamboyant,
larger-than-life.
His personality.
They told me he was going to the
store and unfortunately, the
store is only two blocks over.
And he did not make it.
Reporter: The blizzard
conditions coupled with 70
mile-per-hour winds were a
catastrophic combination.
Climatologist Adam Smith
calculates the financial risk.
>> The late December 2022 winter
storm cold wave was, in some
parts of the country, the storm
of a lifetime.
The hurricane force winds around
Buffalo, the intense snow
squalls.
It was quite remarkable.
Reporter: Smith says the
blizzard was just one of 18
billion dollar weather-related
events last year and he believes
it could be the costliest winter
weather event when nearly two
hundred 50 people died in Texas.
>> February 2020 -- 2021 was the
most costly weather.
It was over a $20 billion event.
Reporter: While it is
increasingly clear that other
severe weather like the flooding
in California, droughts and
longer wildfire seasons can be
linked to global warming, the
fingerprints of man-made climate
change on extreme weather is
less obvious.
That debate often centers around
the arctic, region warming water
times faster than the rest of
the world.
>> The biggest changes that we
are seeing in climate change are
happening in the arctic.
I think there is a connection.
Reporter: He researches the
connections between warming and
the arctic.
>> The changes to the arctic
will lead to more changes which
increases our risk of severe
winter weather.
Reporter: For most Americans,
winters are getting shorter and
warmer.
Average winter temperatures have
risen by at least two degrees
since the 1970's.
But something else is happening.
>> What people are experiencing
is a warmer and shorter winter
Peng shuai did -- punctuated a
more severe weather events.
Reporter: His research is not
fully agreed upon.
Some say it could be a natural
deviation.
What is clear, the increasing
frequency of extreme weather
means more Americans will likely
be impacted going forward.
And some groups will be hit much
harder than others says Adam
Smith.
>> Most everyone is vulnerable
to some extreme or combination
of extremes and people that have
the highest vulnerability
socioeconomically to these
extremes, they may not be able
to evacuate or have an insurance
policy to recover or the social
fabric to help them rebound.
>> There is an old adage in the
African-American community that
says when white people get a
cold, black people get a
blooming onion.
Reporter: Buffaloes mostly black
eased side was especially
vulnerable to the blizzard.
Many residents there live in
older homes and rely on walking.
>> Already we know that blacks
represented about 50% more of
the for tallies in a region
where they represent only about
14% of the population.
This was something you had never
seen before.
The messaging was never there.
It was never there.
That walking could kill you.
>> A driving brand remains in
effect.
Reporter: While the city of
Buffalo instituted a driving ban
and urged residents to stay home
during the blizzard, it was a
message that never reached his
father.
>> This is probably the worst
storm that any of us have
experienced in our lifetime and
we did not know any better
because people were still going
out like my father.
Still thinking, this is all
right.
I can walk to the store and make
it.
This is not going to kill me.
Reporter: Does that make you
angry with the city of Buffalo ?
>> I was a little frustrated
because I still think it is a
lack of accountability where 43
people were dying.
Reporter: Like many in Buffalo
he hopes last month's blizzard
will be a wake-up call.