PARISH, N.Y. (AP) – Blue skies turned gray in the blink of an eye early Saturday afternoon, bringing another severe snowstorm to an area that was already more than ready to say “Uncle!”

“This is bad,” said 67-year-old Dave DeGrau, who has operated an auto repair shop on Main Street for the past 45 years. “We had a very easy winter until now. Last fall during hunting season it rained every time I went out. I kept saying, ‘I’m glad this isn’t snow.’ Now, it’s snow.”

Is it ever.

Persistent bands of squalls have swung up and down this part of central New York along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario since last Sunday, prompting Governor Spitzer to declare a state disaster emergency in Oswego County.

The National Weather Service said Parish – about 25 miles northeast of Syracuse – reached a milestone early Saturday morning: 100 inches of snow over the past seven days. That was pushed to 110 inches by 10 p.m. Saturday with fresh snowfall. Unofficial reports pegged snowfall totals at 123 inches in Orwell and 131 in Redfield, but the weather service said those numbers included snow from a storm a couple of days before the latest run.

The winter wonderland was a magnet for snowmobilers, with one caveat – stopping was out of the question. Dan Hojnacki of Syracuse was having a blast, flying over snowbanks along Main Street until his yellow Ski-Doo ground to a halt in a small field and he struggled mightily to get it out.

“You can’t stop or you’re done,” Mr. Hojnacki, 23, said. “I never got stuck until today, and I’ve been snowmobiling for 10 years.”

Mr. Hojnacki figured to have plenty of company before the day ended. After a morning respite, the storm picked up in earnest just after noon Saturday, cutting visibility to near zero.

A lake-effect snow warning was issued until Monday morning for Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego counties. Snow was expected to fall at a rate of 2-3 inches an hour, dropping from two to four feet of new snow on the hardest-hit areas as winds gusting up to 25 miles per hour make travel even more difficult.

“That’s all we need,” Mike Avery said as he took a brief break from loading dump trucks with snow to be taken to a pile outside town. “It’s getting monotonous.”

It’s been an exhausting week for people who live in upstate New York’s snowbelt. Nearby Mexico sees a 5- or 6-foot snowfall every two or three years. But as 14 1/2 inches fell Saturday – bringing the area’s total snowfall to 101 inches – even hardened locals have been amazed at the scenes before them. Parked SUVs are noticeable only because their antennas or roof racks crack the snow’s surface; front doors are entirely buried, with footprints leading to a second-story window; giant six-foot-thick slabs of snow have slid off roofs, forming colossal arches as they stretch intact to the ground.

Such scenes spurred the state transportation department to send snow equipment, 75 workers from the Syracuse region and 50 from other parts of the state to help.

At least there was a brief break. Residents of this snowbound village awoke Saturday to blue skies, and that gave highway crews a chance to haul away some of the eight feet of snow that had fallen since the persistent series of storms began last weekend

A faded-yellow grader struggled to push the giant snow piles away from the sidewalk on Main Street, giving way to a giant snowthrower that blew the white stuff into dump trucks for the ride out of town.

The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation gave highway departments the go-ahead to dump the snow in open water if necessary, said Tom Bielewicz, fire chief in nearby Richland.

Earlier in the week, Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd cautioned people not to travel unless absolutely necessary and criticized the “gawkers” who always come out when there’s a break in the weather to see what’s going on.

Mr. Bielewicz joined the refrain.

“The county is in a state of emergency, so why in the heck are all these people out on the road causing havoc so the plows can’t get through?” he said.

David Moran was within earshot of that comment and seemed almost proud to declare that he had driven north from Virginia just to see the snow.

“I’m one of those nut cases. It’s pretty amazing,” said Mr. Moran, who grew up in Ithaca, N.Y.

This really isn’t anything new for this region. It’s located along the the Tug Hill Plateau , the snowiest region this side of the Rocky Mountains. It usually gets about 300 inches – roughly 25 feet – of snow a year.

Still, less than a month ago it seemed more like spring.

“Gosh, three weeks ago there was green on the ground. We got spoiled,” Parish Mayor Leon Heagle said. “This just came fast. This is not normal. God, we can’t catch a break. I feel like getting right in the car and driving south, but I’d probably get in trouble.”