At a Glance

Erie, Pennsylvania, is nearing 200 inches of snow this season.The snowiest season of any large U.S. city is held by Buffalo, New York, at 199.4 inches.A cold, active weather pattern could inch Erie close to that record in the weeks ahead.Erie has become only the third large U.S. city to record more than 190 inches of snow in a season.

Erie, Pennsylvania, has already shattered its seasonal snow record of 152.1 inches by more than 3 feet, and now it's threatening the all-time snowiest winter ever recorded by its snowy neighbor, Buffalo, New York, some 80 miles to the northeast.

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Through Wednesday, Erie had recorded 191.5 inches of snow this winter season. Buffalo's snowiest winter on record occurred 41 years ago, when 199.4 inches piled up during the winter of 1976-77.

Season-to-date snowfall in Erie, Pennsylvania, through March 14 compared to Buffalo, New York's all-time snowiest winter in 1976-77.

That 199.4-inch seasonal total in Buffalo is a with a population of at least 100,000, the Buffalo News reported, citing data from of the .

Erie is now less than 8 inches away from tying that record, and more snow is likely in the days ahead. In fact, the northwestern Pennsylvania city could be within a few inches of the record by the end of thisweek.

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Besides Buffalo – and now Erie – the only other large U.S. city to record a seasonal snowfall total over 190 inches is Syracuse, New York, according to DeCoursey's data. This happened in the winters of 1992-93 (192.1 inches) and 2000-01 (191.9 inches).

An average winter in Erie brings 100.9 inches of snow. If the city reaches 200 inches in the weeks ahead, it would essentially be double the average.

Keep in mind that smaller U.S. citieswith a population of less than 100,000have received more than 200 inches of snow in a season. In fact, Marquette, Michigan, averages 203.6 inches of snow each winter. It received as much as 319.8 inches during the winter of 2001-02.

There will likely be several chances of snow overthe next week or two, as colder-than-average temperatures and a stormy weather pattern are expected to ,according to some longer-range forecasts.

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It's impossible to say for certain whether or not Erie will hit the 200-inch mark before the end of the 2017-18 winter season, but thisweather pattern will definitely helpinchcloser to that mark.

A historic lake-effect snow event Christmas week gave this season a large push toward its current total of over 191inches.

Christmas Week Historic Lake-Effect Snow Recap

From Christmas Eve through the morning of Dec. 27, Erie'ssnow total was an astounding 65.1 inches.A stationary lake-effect snow band off Lake Erie dumped34 inches of snow at Erie International Airporton Christmas Day alone, with an additional 26.5 incheson Dec. 26.

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This prolific event that dateto 1893, as well as a Pennsylvania state record, according to theNational Weather Service office in Cleveland.

All-time record for two-day snowfall in the state of Pennsylvania: 60.5 inches (Dec. 25-26); previous record was 44 inches in Morgantown on March 20-21, 1958. All-time record for snow in any single day in Erie: 34 inches (Dec. 25); previous record was 20 inches on Nov. 22, 1956. 24-hour snowfall record for Dec. 25 in Erie: 34 inches; previous record was 8.1 inches in 2002. 24-hour snowfall record for Dec. 26 in Erie: 26.5 inches; previous record was 8.2 inches in 1926.

Erie's records for two-day, three-day, seven-day and 13-day snowfall were also broken during this lake-effect event.

Two-day snowfall: 26.7 inches (Nov. 24-25, 1950; the "Great Appalachian Storm") : 30.2 inches (Dec. 29-31, 2002) Seven-day snowfall: 39.8 inches (Dec. 27, 2001-Jan. 2, 2002) 13-day snowfall: 52.8 inches (Dec. 31, 1998-Jan. 12, 1999)

That's not a misprint. Erie picked up more snow in less than 36hours in this event than itsprevious13-daysnowstorm record.

Needless to say, the 121.3inches of snow in Decemberwasthe city's snowiest single month on record, shattering thein December 1989 by more than 4 feet.

That'salso more snow in one month than Erie averages in an entire winter season – 100.9inches.

What's more, this was also the snowiest month, according to the Pennsylvania state climatologist. The previous record was 113 inches in February 2010 at Laurel Summit in Somerset County.

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This wasn't just a record-breaking event in Erie. In central New York's Tug Hill Plateau, a 48-hour snowfall record for Oswego County may have been broken, with 62.2 inches of snow near the town of Redfield.

However, the National Weather Service wouldneed to investigate the validity of this possible record since Redfield is not an official weather-observing site in its database.

Finally, Muskegon, Michigan, picked up 14.7 inches of snow on Dec. 29alone,enough for , according to the National Weather Service.

Brian Donegan is a meteorologist at weather.com. Follow him on,and .