[7] It was named for the large herds of bison (mistakenly called buffalo) that once roamed the area.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.55 square miles (1.42 km2), all land.

Like all of the High Plains, this climate features summers with cool to pleasant mornings and typically very warm to hot afternoons, alongside winters that average freezing but are extremely variable due to the conflict between hot Chinook winds and cold Arctic air.

Annual precipitation is quite low at around 14.5 inches or 370 millimetres and concentrated in the spring and summer months from April to August.

Buffalo lies within USDA hardiness zone 4a, meaning temperatures can drop to as low as −30 to −25 °F (−34.4 to −31.7 °C).