This Seasons Rants Moved All Together

11/9 - No changes in snowfall all across the board. Some of us here in the Syracuse area are thinking about offering up a challenge to Quebec City to see who gets the most snowfall this season. Quebec city averages around 130 inches of snow and we think we can shovel up more snow than they do this season. If it happens it should be a fun bet. Back in the old days I think someone would challenge a person to a duel by slapping them in the face. Seeing how this is just a fun contest I think hitting a Quebecian from Quebec City with a snowball should be sufficient enough to offer up a fun challenge, Ehhh. Hmmm, Is anyone going to Quebec City in the near future? If you are, please, no head shots. No need to start an international crisis between our border counties. Of course a border snowball fight might be fun. Can you imagine the border guards wondering what is going on when hundreds of people from both sides of the border show up and start hurling snowballs at each other?

Then again looking at the over 2 feet of snow that Buffalo is beating all of us by??????

11/7 - Nothing new to report as far as the snow goes. One thing I noticed however is if you look at the stats above Albany, Rochester, Binghamton and Syracuse are all below the normal snowfall for this time of the year. Of course one snowfall normal puts everyone over the totals but snow really isn't in the forecast anytime soon. Does that mean this will be a below average winter. Don't count on it and look for my winter outlook predictions for this winter to be posted soon.

Election day is finally here. Whoo Hooo! I'm pretty psyched about it too. Not because of who wins but because my freaking phone should stop ringing off the hook after today. I bet I answered the phone with a recording on the line at least 10 times during this election. I think I took about 6 polls. The worst part was getting up to answer the phone only to have nobody on the other end. That happened about 30 times. I even had one of my friends cuss at me.

Yup, I called one of my childhood buddy's in Tennessee about the election. Tennessee has a close senate race going on so I figured I would get his thoughts. But first I figured I would play around with him and disguised my voice when he answered the phone. I told him I was doing a really fast poll that would take less than a minute of his time. He said "Sure go ahead" in a nasty tone of voice. Anyways I think I started with the wrong question. I asked him if he was a Democrat or a Republican. Click went the phone. He hung up on me and he hung up hard. I hit the redial and called him Rick back. The phone rang about 7 times before he finally answered the phone. This time in my own voice with a little chuckle I said "How Dare You Hang Up On ME". Click went the phone again! He was still thinking I was a pollster. Once again I hit redial and the phone rings and rings with my buddy finally picking up saying something like "What do you want" in a not so pleasant voice. This time I had to hurry up and say "Rick, this is Pat. Don't hang up". After calling me a few obscene names as he was laughing and telling his wife it was me we talked a little politics and caught up on things. So if your sick of all the political BS then just try to have a little fun with it. It will be over soon.

Most importantly, get out and vote if your registered. If you never got around to registering then kick yourself in the butt and instead of voting today go find a place to register so that you can vote in the next election. Let's hope that whom ever it is that is put into the elected offices, things will change for the better. If your registered and told you can't vote for some reason, DON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER! Also polling places have changed all over the place so look up online to see where you should vote. For Onondaga and some surrounding counties you can find the info and phone numbers at http://www.blogs.syracuse.com/default.asp?item=271120 Have a great day all.

11/4 - GO ESM!!! East Syracuse Minoa High School, my alma mater played a tough game against a respectable Nottingham High School team last night and came out with the victory. The first ever sectional title won by ESM.

Class Act, CLASS ACT! That tells the whole story of the game. That's what stood out as I watched the game on Time Warner 26 in the warmth of my house. I planned on attending the game but wasn't feeling all that great yesterday. Anyways as I watched the game obviously cheering for ESM , what stood out the most was the sportsmanship being displayed on the field by both teams. On almost every tackle that was made by Nottingham they would help the ESM player up. The same went for the ESM players. At the end of the game as they lined up to shake hands you could see the Nottingham players patting some of the ESM players on the shoulder, most likely saying good game. 100% class! When the awards were being presented for MVP and Sportsman of the game for both teams, the same class was shown with either a handshake or a pounding of fists together to congratulate each other. I could go on and on about the sportsmanship that I saw last night. Enough said though! Congrats to East Syracuse Minoa and to Nottingham for a great played game. Keep it going ESM in the states.

Oh Yea! This is a weather site. Look out Buffalo! Syracuse is finally on the board with 1/10 of an inch to start their snow season .

11/3 - Alright Buffalo, enough is enough already. Like 22.6 inches wasn't a big enough lead you have to go and add another 2.1 inches yesterday. Yup, Buffalo has a lead of over 2 FEET right now on the rest of us. They already have almost 1/3 of their total for last season which isn't saying a whole lot for last seasons snow in Buffalo. What a difference a year makes and with Buffalo getting that big of a jump on the rest of us this year should be an exciting one watching us all try to catch them. 24.7 inches by November 3rd I have to take my hat off to them. Only for a second though, it's pretty cold out today. GO BUFFALO!

New Info - Syracuse, believe it or not is one of the snowiest cities in the world and most likely the snowiest city in the United States with a population of 100,000 or more. Some of us believed that Syracuse may be the number one snow city with pop over 100,000 in the world. Well our snowball might of went pop. One of Sean Kirst's visitors to his forum, Steve mentioned that Quebec City receives on average 130 inches of snow a year. You can read it at Sean's forum http://www.syracuse.com/forums/kirst/index.ssf?artid=2443 . There is also a great topic going on there about what Syracuse could do with the title of being the snowiest city in the US and one of the top in the world.

Not to let my snowball pop to easily I sat down and did some math with the stats I have. Those who visit here know my math tends to be Fuzzy Math at times so feel free to correct anything I might of missed. I did a 10 year, 20 year and 30 year average of our snowfall seasons up to last seasons to see what I would come up with. Below are the results for Syracuse which I found pretty interesting.

30 Year Annual Average Snowfall = 125.2 inches.
20 Year Annual Average Snowfall = 131.0 inches.
10 Year Annual Average Snowfall = 129.6 inches.

I got in touch with Dave from NOAA in Binghamton and asked him why we show 111.9 as our normal yearly average snow totals. Something I think I asked him before but having the memory of a toad I forgot the reason. Dave explained that NOAA (the national weather service) uses what they call a rolling 30 year average which is updated every 10 years. In other words the normals that we see on the snow chart here are taken from the averages of the years 1970 - 2000. So if I am correct the next rolling 30 year average will start in a few years, 2010.
That all being said taking the current up to date stats from above we are in the ballpark with Quebec City. It would be interesting to find out how they come up with their yearly average snowfall and if it's like ours on a rolling 30 year system. Make sure you check out NYCO's site who also has some discussions going on about the Golden Snowball contest at http://www.silent-edge.org/wp/ . It's also a GREAT site giving an opinion on many topics and current events in the CNY area. Hey, have a super weekend all!

11/1 - Wow, what a nice night it was last night for the little ones to go Trick or Treating. Warm with a light breeze far from the normal cold and rainy or even a mix of rain and snow. Unfortunately I live on a busy street that seems to get more busier every year and this year we had only 4 little ones come to the door not counting nieces and nephews. Our neighbor Frank brought over his cute little 2 year old grandson and 3 little girls across the street in their cute costumes rung the doorbell. That was it. I ask myself every year why do I buy so much candy. I keep coming up with the same answer every year, because I am a candy Pig and know that I get the leftovers .

Now I am sitting here wondering whether I should finish up the rest of the raking while the weather is still nice. Or better yet should I get out and play another round of golf and blow off the raking and hope that it snows soon to cover up the leaves. Looking at all the neighbors trees and yards that are still covered with leaves and thinking about the windy weather we've been having, it's a no brainer. Happy November All! It won't be long now before all of the Golden Snowball cities are are on the board with some snow to report. Enjoy the weather while you can.
10/14 - Talk about getting a jump on the contest this year. Buffalo is leading by almost 2 feet of snow. After Fridays record snow totals of 14 inches they are well on their way to dethroning the champions, Syracuse. Buffalo's total snowfall so far this season stands at 22.6 inches. Hello, it's October, not January. Now we have to wonder if any more measurable snow will fall anytime soon. Nothing as freaky as what hit Buffalo this week I'd bet on.

Lets not forget Rochester. They also struck early setting their record that dated back to 1874. Their total stands at 0.4 inches. Lake effect snow has never cease to amaze me. How one city can get close to 2 feet of snow and another city just down the road gets less than an inch. I suppose that's what makes the Golden Snowball contest so unpredictable.

Looking at this year and last years start of the season I don't know which is freakier. Buffalo getting the first snowfall of 22.6 inches in October to start the contest. Or last year when it was Albany who started the contest and was winning for a brief period. Stay tuned for the next snow update which should be in about a month. Lets hope anyways. Have a great weekend all!
10/13/06 - Let the golden snowball contest begin. Buffalo struck first breaking a record for measurable snow this early in the season with 8.6 inches on Thursday and breaking the all time record of 6 inches dating back to Oct 31st, 1917. Way to early to be getting pounded with snow. Something isn't right when I can use the word pounded this early in the season. Unfortunately with the lakes temp being around 60 degrees the cold front that is bringing on the Lake Effect Snow (LES) is producing heavy wet snow that has brought down a lot of trees. Over 155,000 are without power and some reporting up to 300,000 without power, schools are closed and so on.

All I can say is after the dismal snow season Buffalo had last year, they are off to a good start this year. Hopefully everyone is OK and hopefully they get the power back and things back to normal soon. Remember "See Snow - Drive Slow". Have a Safe Snow Season All and Let The Contest Begin! I'm off to see if my foursome still plans on golfing today.