Despite the snow and cold, Buffalo Bills fans shut up before the 49ers game

Orchard Park – Even though the Buffalo Bills have been one of the hottest teams in the NFL in recent seasons, there aren’t too many fair-weather fans rooting for them. Literally.

Fans of the NFL franchise in Western New York aren’t intimidated by winter weather, and the fans who lined up at the tailgate nine hours before kickoff of Sunday night’s game against the San Francisco 49ers epitomized that. A warning of lake effect snow and a foot and a half of snow on the ground, with more to come, failed to act as a deterrent.

Bills fans were used to snow in wintry conditions

It doesn’t hurt that a large portion of the team’s fan base comes from notoriously snowy Canada. Lifelong Bills fan Scott Correia from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, drives an hour and a half (more like two hours in bad weather) to get to home games at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. Correia and his wife are among the first to arrive at the parking lot and the last to leave. In the last four years, he has missed just one home game for what he calls the Canadian NFL team.

“As Canadians, we are used to winter,” Correia said. “And I love a good tailgate, man. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like, what the temperature is like. We’re out in the cold – it doesn’t matter.”

The tailgate menu for Correia and some local American friends that he put together with chili, soup and grilled burgers. An exterior canopy was attached directly to the tailgate of his SUV to protect him from the wind, and the equipment he unloaded Sunday morning included a propane heater.

The lake effect snow forecast played no role in Correia’s decision to continue the tailgate tradition.

“Not a deterrent at all,” he said. “I don’t care at all. You won’t stop us.”

More:Four memorable Bills bad weather games that stand out in the memory of the team’s equipment manager

The Buffalo Bills tailgaters are prepared for snowy weather

That sentiment was shared by Cody Pokigo, who lives just a few miles away in Lackawanna, Erie County. The tailgate menu for Pokigo and his colleagues included home-made fried chicken wings and turkey, as well as freshly made pizza.

“We’ll come and make sure we’re prepared,” Pokigo said. “We treat it like we’re camping for the weekend, but really just for a few hours.”

Pokigo has heard that they may have to remove snow from their seats, but Bills fans have seen this before too. Conditions on Sunday were more favorable than during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ playoff game last season, which was postponed due to snow, Pokigo said.

“The side streets were bumpy, but the main streets were fine,” he said.

Buffalo Bills game weather

More:Bills vs. 49ers Weather: The latest on playing conditions at Orchard Park

Orchard Park received a reported 18.5 inches Sunday morning, with another 3 to 8 inches likely before kickoff of Sunday Night Football at 8:20 p.m. The National Weather Service forecast in Buffalo is for temperatures in the 20s, with occasional snowfall of about 1 inch per hour expected near the start of the game. The probability of precipitation decreases towards the evening.

Steve Howe covers weather, climate and the Great Lakes for the Democrat and Chronicle. As an RIT graduate, he has covered countless topics over the years, including public safety, local government, national politics and economic development in New York and Utah.

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