Interestingly, the heaviest snow doesn't even fall during the winter months in parts of upstate New York. "Lake effect snow" is typically seen in the late fall and early spring. Once the Great Lakes freeze over there is no evaporation from the lakes to feed the weather systems that drop all that snow to the east.
Well, our lake effect snow comes from Lake Ontario, and it rarely freezes over, areas east of Lake Ontario in upstate New York average over 100 inches of snow per year.