LOWVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Heavy snowfall and numbing temperatures kept parts of the U.S. in a deep freeze Sunday as the Thanksgiving holiday weekend drew to a close. Some snowmobilers and skiers reveled in the wintry conditions, while flinty fans prepared for the NFL game in Buffalo.

In the remote Tug Hill region of upstate New York, where lake-effect snow off Lake Ontario can dump several feet of snow at a time, there was up to 46 inches (117 centimeters) in the Barnes Corners area.

“We just keep digging out,” said Kevin Tyo, a local businessman. “We were out all day yesterday, plowing.” Like many locals, he has a plow attached to his truck for winter, “and I have a tractor with a bucket, and a snowblower.”

His advice? “If you’re not used to it, stay home. If you’re out, slow down.”

Lake-effect snow is caused when warm, moist air is blown across a body of water and mixes with colder, drier air, creating narrow bands of often heavy snow on land. Pileups can be quick: The U.S. military’s Fort Drum, near hard-hit Watertown, New York, issued an alert saying up to 19 inches (48 centimeters) of daytime snow could could fall Sunday.

Commercial vehicles remained banned in both directions of I-90 in western New York along a nearly 134-mile stretch to the Pennsylvania line.

Buffalo Bills kickoff set for Sunday night

In Buffalo, officials with the NFL’s Bills had sought stadium snow shovelers for the season, including ahead of Sunday night’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. The team said it would pay $20 per hour and provide food and hot drinks.

The lake-effect storm began hitting the area Saturday near the Bills’ stadium in Orchard Park, New York. Snow was falling near the stadium hours ahead of the game.

“Snowfall totals will be highly dependent on whether the current lake-effect snow shifts just south of the stadium, or remains in place over the stadium longer,” the State Weather Risk Communication Center said on social platform X.

Another one to two feet (about 30 to 60 centimeters) of snow were possible in western New York, and another two to three feet were possible in northern New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said Sunday.

Stuck in a car overnight with kids

Christine Schintzius set out Friday on clear roads with her 4- and 8-year-old sons and 12- and 15-year-old nieces from Wales, New York, southeast of Buffalo. They planned to attend a hockey tournament in Cleveland but instead found themselves snowbound for 19 hours inside a Honda Pilot.

They faced seemingly endless lines of stopped traffic, first on Interstate 90 near the New York-Pennsylvania border for nine hours, and again on Route 5 in Pennsylvania for 10 hours, until residents plowed them out.

“It was packed, there was tons of people, tons,” Schintzius said by phone Sunday.

While stuck on Route 5, Schintzius never turned off her car, afraid it wouldn’t start again in the cold. Two truckers checked on them during the night. In the morning the police checked in, along with a resident who walked the line of cars handing out muffins and making sure the stranded drivers had water.