A Mississauga, Ont. couple is safe after spending 24 hours in a snow-covered car on a New York highway.

Aldo Bartolini and his wife were heading toward the Canadian border on Tuesday when a massive snowstorm hit the area, burying cars and blocking doorways across the city.

The storm came so quickly that more than 100 vehicles were stuck along a 212-kilometre stretch of the New York State Thruway, the Associated Press reported.

The couple was forced to stop the car on Route 5, a road that runs parallel to the thruway across New York.

The car was stuck on a ramp covered in snow on Tuesday night, behind a transport truck travelling in the same direction, just south of Buffalo.

"We were struck there with four-foot drifts all around the car and couldn't get out," Bartolini told CP24 on Thursday morning.

It was tough to sleep, Bartolini said, but they managed to nap for some of the time. Once every hour, he'd turn on the car for about 10 minutes to keep warm. When the sun came out on Wednesday morning they were comfortable, he said.

To keep themselves entertained, they chatted with a man in a car stuck in a ditch next to them.

After a full day in the car, Bartolini was rescued on Wednesday afternoon by someone with a snow blower, who plowed a path for the truck and cars stuck nearby.

Bartolini said he and his wife tried to head north to get to the border but roads were closed so they had to circle back.

"We were able to get on some plowed roads and made our way back to the hotel," Bartolini said.

Until roads out of the city are cleared, they'll be stuck at a motel in Hamburg, N.Y., about 20 kilometres south of the city.

He said he'd seen busloads of workers brought in from Pittsburgh to help clear the snow off the streets.

From a nearby fast food restaurant, Bartolini told CP24 that snow was falling again on Thursday morning. By noon, he told CTV News Channel the snow outside his motel window was about 1.5 metres deep.

While roads are blocked by snow, Bartolini said he and his wife will be living on food purchased from McDonald's and a nearby gas station.

The couple is hoping to be able to leave the city by Friday, depending on the weather.