The nation has been fixated on the Buffalo, New York, area where between four and five feet of snow fell over a several day period starting Friday.

The culprit was lake effect snow, which can drop incredible amounts of snow in a short time.

I know firsthand, because I lived in Oswego, New York, the lake-effect capital of the United States, which holds the record for the greatest amount of snow from one snowstorm - 102 inches accompanied by winds gusting over 60 mph over a four-day period in 1966.

During the six years that I served as the publisher of Oswego’s daily newspaper and an additional 10 years in the community, (1992-2008), my late wife, Marie, and I experienced three winters where the total snowfall eclipsed 200 inches a year. The average annual snowfall for Oswego was 151 inches when I was there; today, it is down to 141 inches.

By contrast, in our part of the world, we average about 30 to 35 inches of snow a year. The record for one storm is 31.7 inches on Jan. 23, 2016.

Our area residents would consider it abnormal if they had to shovel 96 inches of snow in one winter. Imagine, then, what it might be like to face that amount of snow as I did in just one storm over a two-day period in 2007.

Oswego is located along the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario, about 45 miles north of Syracuse. Many area fishermen are familiar with Oswego and Oswego County because they go there each fall to fish along the Salmon River in Pulaski, about 25 miles east of Oswego, in Lake Ontario and along the Oswego River.

During the 2007 storm, I was snowbound for two days. I remember doing my daily walks inside the house, going from the second floor to the basement and circling each floor scores of times to get in my steps.

Then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer declared a state of emergency for Oswego County. Former Oswego Mayor Randy Bateman issued his own state of emergency declaration which banned parking on city streets.

During the 2007 storm, the potent lake-effect band off Lake Ontario alternatively camped out or meandered north and south, leaving in its wake these prodigious amounts of snow.

The heavy snows attracted visits from meteorologists and reporters from Good Morning America, The Weather Channel and CNN, who gave periodic live reports, just as happened with the Buffalo storm.

“We wanted to show our viewers what eight feet of snow looks like,” said Good Morning America’s Sam Champion, who broadcast weather segments from Mexico, a village about 10 miles east of Oswego. CNN’s Rob Marciano was in the city several days broadcasting from the city center which was indiscernible at times during whiteout conditions

While Oswego wound up with 96 inches, some parts of Oswego County near Pulaski topped 130 inches.

For those unfamiliar with lake effect, it seems inconceivable that within a narrow band just 10 or 15 miles wide, snowfall rates of up to five- to six-inches an hour could be raging, while outside of the band, the sun could be shining.

Lake effect is caused when icy, cold winds blow over the relatively warm waters of Lake Ontario, or in Buffalo’s case Lake Erie. The water is converted to snow and dropped inland, how far inland depends on how hard the wind is blowing. When the lakes are unfrozen as they often are these days, the ideal, classic lake-effect conditions exist which bring these legendary amounts of snow.

When the lake-effect band moves north and south, the snow is spread out among various communities stretching from Watertown on the north to Binghamton on the south and from Bradford, Pennsylvania, on the west to the Tug Hill Plateau on the east.

During the 2007 storm, the lake-effect band stalled over Oswego, resulting in a total of 45 inches of snow within a few hours. As the band wandered back and forth across the city, another 64 inches fell.

The snow banks were so high that vehicles had to ease into intersections to see whether other vehicles were coming. Oswegonians call it “sneak and peek.”

The winds which accompany lake-effect snow cause whiteout conditions, not unlike the snow squalls that sometime impact our area. This means drivers can barely see a vehicle in front of them. During these heavy snows, sections of Interstate 81 and Interstate 90 (the New York State Thruway) are closed to allow emergency personnel to operate more efficiently.

Through it all, Oswegonians are philosophical because of where they live. Lake Ontario can be a fickle friend. It brings great pleasure and recreation during the summer and early fall, but during the winter when the lake-effect machine gets cranking, it can be absolutely brutal.

The late Oswego City Historian Rosemary Nesbitt put the harsh experiences into perspective: “Oswego winters build character.”