BUFFALO — The first snow of the season arrived off of Lake Erie today, coating towns south of the city but sparing Buffalo from breaking out the shovels.

“You start to get into November, you can expect it any time,” a National Weather Service meteorologist, Tom Paone, said.

Up to six inches of snow was expected during the day today in the highest elevations of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, well south of Buffalo, with a few more inches likely to fall through the night and into tomorrow. Authorities there reported several cars off slippery roads but no serious injuries.

In Buffalo, where the temperature stayed above freezing, pedestrians were pelted with wind-blown sleet that arrived throughout the day amid bursts of thunder and lightning but melted soon after bouncing to the ground.

Lake Erie, the source of the precipitation, was a relatively warm 56 degrees, Mr. Paone said, but it was too early to predict whether or when it might freeze over.

The region’s notorious lake-effect snow forms when cold air moves across the lake’s open waters, picking up warmth and moisture and creating narrow bands of severe weather. A Christmas week storm in 2001 poured seven feet of snow over some areas of western New York.

“If we don’t get any sustained air coming down from the Arctic this winter then it won’t be a problem,” Mr. Paone said, “but it’s way too early to even speculate.”