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Golden Snowball Totals for the 2010 - 2011 Snowfall Season
Updated  5/1/2011

GSB Cities This Season Normal Average
to Date
This Time Last Season Normal
 Seasons Average
All Time Season Snowfall Record
Syracuse 179.0 111.8 106.1 121.1 192.1 inches
( 1992 - 1993 )
Rochester 127.0 99.8 89.8 100.3 161.7 inches
( 1959 - 1960 )
Binghamton 117.5 80.8 81.4 81 134.0 inches
( 1995 - 1996 )
Buffalo 111.8 96.7 74.1 97 199.4 inches
( 1976 - 1977 )
Albany 87.2 62.6 45.4 62.6 112.5 inches
( 1970 - 1971 )

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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Syracuse Slips into The Lead

It is now official!!! Syracuse has taken over the title as King of the Snow Hill and for the first time in the 2006 - 2007 Golden Snowball contest Buffalo is no longer in the lead. Way to go Syracuse snowing in at 50.2 inches.

My guess is that it might be a short stance on the hill for Syracuse. I'm thinking the fun really is just starting and that there will be several lead changes in the coming weeks and as I have said before, don't be surprised to see Rochester grabbing a share of the top spot down the road. I'll have to look but I think that was the longest that anyone has held onto the lead right from the start of the season up until the very last day of January. To that I say, way to go Buffalo. Have a great night all. Make that have a snowy night all and look for an update in the late morning.

Unofficially a NEW LEADER?

Unless something changes before NOAA puts out their next snow totals updates the Golden Snowball contest unofficially has a new leader. After making hundreds of calculations, dozens of phone calls, taking measurements and so on it appears that Syracuse has finally taken over the lead. Unofficially that is. Ok, I really didn't do any of that stuff except to take a measurement in the yard which came in at 5 inches and even that is unofficial because it wasn't done in accordance to the NWS standards. That all said, the official numbers should be in sometime around 5:30 with the Binghamton NOAA posting the stats for Syracuse's overnight snowfall and for part of today.

I did find a couple of data pages which indeed show that it is safe to UNOFFICIALLY say that right now Syracuse should be in the lead. If Buffalo piles up some snow before the official stats come out at around 5:30 then they will continue to hold the lead without ever having lost it because this is all Unofficial if you get my drift, snow drift that is. Look for a later day update and the possibility of an Officially new leader.

Right now I'm looking out the window and see 3 crows staring back at me, really. The first thing that comes to mind is I hope I'm not eating crow come 5:30 for making this post :(

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Shhh, Syracuse is Only 1 Inch Away

We need to keep this quiet. Just one week ago we announced that Syracuse was within 1 inch of tying Buffalo and they countered our attack by adding more snow to their totals. So shhhh, Syracuse is going to try and sneak up on them again and hopefully there will be a different outcome this time. The last time someone from Syracuse sent out our snowmen troops to do a little spying and try and find out how Buffalo was able to stay the King of the Snow Hill all season. Rumor has it that the mission was leaked out perhaps by a top official in the Mayors office. Eyes have been focused on Dennis Brogan and Sheri Owens for the possible breach of security. Below are several freeze frames that were captured on video surveillance from the Buffalo weather central headquarters. Be warned, the pictures below are graphic and not intended for the squeamish snow lovers. Click picture to enlarge and No narration is needed as the pictures say it all.




























Syracuse is Just 1.1 inches away from taking the lead. Keep your defences up Buffalo and watch out for Rochester who also has their sights on the Golden Snowball trophy! Have a great day all!

Monday, January 29, 2007

Rochester is Picking up Snow Totals

Rochester continues to melt away the lead that both Buffalo and Syracuse has on them. Add another 3.4 inches to Rochester's totals compared to Buffalo's latest report of another 1.3 inches and Syracuse showing an embarrassing 1 tenth of an inch for yesterday and the same for Binghamton, just 1/10 of new snowfall. Both city's should hold their head down in shame after letting Albany, who picked up 0.4 on the day beat them. That will change though. Snow is in the forecast for today and tonight, right into part of tomorrow.

Several warnings, advisories and so on are in effect for a few of the cities. Right now Syracuse is getting a good blast of snow on and off with the heavier stuff expected to come down later. The chances are that Buffalo and Rock city will get in on the action also. Buffalo has been able to fend off Syracuse's attempts so far to over take them in the Golden Snowball contest. At one point Syracuse was within 1.1 inches of taking the lead away but Buffalo picked up several more inches to stay king of the snow hill. I mentioned before and I'll say it again. Watch out for Rochester because they are making a move and are well capable of sledding into the lead with a couple good snowfalls that miss the other both DaCuse and Buffalo.

More on the battle of the Snowmen to come soon including Syracuse's ill fated attempt to send a snowman spy into the Generals territory in Buffalo.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Man Wanted in Connection with Snow Coup

The person below is wanted in connection with an attempted coup against the city of Syracuse and his quest to bring the Golden Snowball trophy out of the Syracuse jurisdiction and cross it over to the Buffalo county lines. He is know to be the highest ranking Buffalonian and seems to be in charge of capturing the trophy from the city of Syracuse. Please use caution when approaching such suspect as he has been know to be armed with a semi-auto snowball thrower. He goes by many aliases including The General, Smadson and just plain Steve. He is also wanted by the city of Syracuse for attempting and successfully recruiting several others in his mad, insane and sick attempt to dethrone the city of Syracuse.



Below is a picture that was captured by intelligence from the city of Syracuse of his accomplices. They are also considered dangerous and it is recommended that you do not approach them especially on a warm day when they tend to get very irritated and begin to sweat profusely. They are described as being white, a mouth shaped like chocolate chip cookies and scary tomato red eyes. They are considered very dangerous with a very cold heart so please contact the authority's if seen.



Ok before I get an email from Steve saying he has been captured by some visiting Syracusans and is in a car headed East or worse yet a call from the police saying 911 is getting a lot of calls from people saying they have a snowman cornered in their back yards, I'm kidding. Steve is one of the biggest fans of the NYS Golden Snowball contest and just plain old winter weather in Buffalo. He knows how to have fun with it and is responsible for a lot of the research on stats that show up here on the GSB website. No doubt he would love to see the trophy sitting somewhere in Buffalo come the end of this snow season. Wishful thinking but none the less.

One thing that makes me go Hmmm though is why isn't the Buffalo media covering the fact that they have been winning the Golden Snowball contest right from the start this year. Forget the other news! It's too depressing! This is the story the people want to read about. Buffalo is winning and not a word in print in the papers. Saturday night live has mentioned the contest in the past years, Paul Harvey mentioned it on his radio show before, the New York times has mentioned it, USA today did an article on the contest, Syracuse news talks about it every now and then but nothing from Buffalo this year.

And where is the Weather Channel. Every day they mention one of the city's in the contest and talk about the snow where getting. I think it would be more fun to hear them say instead of "Oh and Look at Buffalo getting the lake effect snow today", something like "Oh Buffalo should be able to hold onto the lead a little longer in this seasons NYS Golden Snowball contest with the lake effect they are getting right now. Just my opinion of course ;) General keep an eye on your troops, I might have to do a sun dance if you get too far ahead of the rest of us. Hey, have a great weekend all!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Once Again Buffalo Says "I Don't Think So"

Way to go Buffalo. Buffalo once again has kept Syracuse from reaching the top of the snow hill. They just don't want to give it up. I thought for sure Syracuse would be able to sneak up on them by the end of tonight but Buffalo is watching and they added another 5.4 inches to their totals yesterday compared to Rochester's 1.9 inches and Syracuse's 0.9 inches. Oh, and give Albany a tenth of an inch and nothing is showing for Binghamton. Syracuse better watch their backs because Rochester is slowly sneaking up on them the last few days.

Most of the lake effect warnings were canceled except for N. Oneida which goes until noon. That might be a good thing though. Buffalo got their snow when they weren't under a warning so maybe the other cities can do the same. The razzing has already started from the General from Buffalo and rightly so because he knows what's coming his way if Syracuse ever takes over the hill ;) The way the General is guarding it though, it might have to wait a little longer.

Right now just a light snowfall in the Syracuse area and looking at some of the radars it looks like Buffalo has it's snow shield up again and Rock City might be able to add to their totals with some flurries around their neighborhood. Binghamton really needs to get their snow season going and going soon. Have a great day all!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Buffalo Hanging on to 1 Inch Snow Lead

Once again all of the cities picked up a little snow since the last update. It's finally staring to look a lot like winter and another lake effect snow event is in the forecast. Right now there are lake effect warnings beginning later on for the normal snow pile cities, Lowville, Watertown and the Oswego areas. Onondaga, Madison and parts of Onieda county are under a lake effect snow watch starting tomorrow morning and Buffalo is under a snow advisory. All the info comes from NOAA's warnings webpage which is at It's a great page to keep up on all the warnings and when snow is in the forecast it's fun to watch as it changes throughout the day and night. Yeah, I know as I said many times before I need to get a life :)

Buffalo, Buffalo, Buffalo! What more is there to say to Buffalo that they don't already know. To blow a lead as big as they had at one point, something like 2 1/2 feet leaves me speechless. That's why I am typing about it ;) Syracuse is only 1 inch away from taking over the snow hill and pushing Buffalo down the hill to second place. Jill, whom I always look forward to hearing her comments and responds to some of the posts here is from Buffalo. Jill said it best in one word what Buffalonians must be thinking right now. "SIGH". My guess is that Steve - Smadsen in the forum is using a few other choice words right about now and who I have to admit I am kind of looking forward to razzing if Syracuse ever does happen to take the lead this snow season. Steve also brought up a good question. Has any city ever held the lead throughout the season from start to finish? I don't know the answer but if Buffalo can hold off Syracuse's charge, maybe they will be the first to do it.

Don't get me wrong either. Even if Syracuse takes the lead the chances are they won't hold it long. I'm still guessing this will be going back and forth. As far as I am aware the lakes haven't frozen over yet and until they do Buffalo can blow us all away in one of their snow storms that they are known for. I was Reading the other day while doing some research that Buffalo picked up I think over 80 inches of snow in a 2 - 3 day period. I'll look for the site later and post it here. Another thing to watch for is Rochester. They have been on a roll lately and are chipping away at both Buffalo and Syracuse and expect their charge to continue. Binghamton is showing some signs that they want a Golden Snowball trophy but they really need to try harder to get some snow. I don't think their heart is in it this season. Albany???? Look at their totals above. People don't head South for the winter anymore, They head West to Albany. Enough said and have a super day all!

Monday, January 22, 2007

Help Wanted - Snow Angels Need Only Apply

Ok, even if your a little devil sometimes I'm sure you can participate as long as the mark you leave in the snow looks like a snow angel ;) Sean Kirst's article in today's Post Standard mentions an attempt for Syracuse to break a world record. The record of the most snow angels which we be attempted to be broken during this years Winterfest. Read more about it at Sean's Kirst's Articles .

This is a record that not only should be a piece of cake to break but a record that should belong to Syracuse. Only to ingredients are needed, lots of people and lots of snow. Both of which have been a problem in the past. Not this year. According to Sean's article Bill Cooper who is the President of the Winterfest is recruiting kids from the Syracuse schools and wants other school districts to help out in setting this record that should be held by Syracuse. So for any kids that might visit here, talk to your teachers and get them pumped up about being part of a world record. If your a teacher then get it organised and get in touch with Bill Cooper at 466-9468 and let him know that your school wants to join in on the fun. I'm marking the day on my calendar right now and hoping to be a part of it. The date is February 15th and you can read more about this years winterfest and all the events at Syracuse Winterfest .

Local bloggers can help by keeping this event in the online news source by writing about it every now and then to remind people to show up. There are a ton of great blogs around to help get the word out and I'll set up a count down first chance I get and post it on here. Sounds like a lot of fun if you ask me.

Nothing new to report other than Rochester lost 2.2 inches to their totals. Yup this year we are going to take away from your totals as the snow melts also. So whoever has some snow left on the ground at the end of April wins :) I'M JOKING! For some reason the stats were showing Rock City had 18 inches. When I looked today they were down to 15.8 . It could of been a mistake on either NOAA's part or mine. It doesn't happen often that NOAA makes a change but it does from time to time. I think it happened only 2 times for the whole season last year. Me on the other hand, enough said. Have a great week all!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Buffalo Says No Way!!!

The stats are in and Buffalo says"I Don't Think So" to Syracuse in this last challenge that DaCuse tried to sled into first place. GO BUFFALO! I have to admit that I was expecting a BIG announcement saying that there was a new leader and when I got home tonight I was surprised to see that Buffalo still remains the king of the snow hill. Can they stay on top?

This will go down to the end of the snow season this year. Do not count Rochester out of this seasons contest. They have been picking up snow inch by inch and they will be in the running with Syracuse and Buffalo right down to the last snow flake hitting the ground. Binghamton has alot of making up to do but rumor has it that the snow lover s are out buying up all the snow making machines available. Chances are that the way the CNY weather has been up until recently that they might not be able to find any though because the ski resorts have probably bought them all up. Enough said and Way to go Buffalo for fending off Syracuse's chance to take the lead this last snow round. Buffalo stays in the lead by 1.6 inches!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

It's a Snow Race

What a beautiful sight it is outside. White, bright and No grass showing for a chance. Look at the numbers in the snow chart above. Who would of thought that the race would turn out to be this close? Well in reality a lot of us who know CNY weather would of thought it. All the numbers aren't in yet and there is still a chance for more snow for pretty much all of the Golden Snowball cities.

Just a reminder as to when stats are reported. Buffalo and Rochester's stats are updated around 5:30am every day and the other 3 city's are updated just after midnight. Then a couple of other updates throughout the day. By 5:30 - 6:00 when Binghamton NOAA does another update we should know if we have a new leader or not and my bet is that it will be really close. I'm off for now to watch my sons CYO game at Le Moyne College and hopefully to catch a little bit of the Le Moyne game. Have a great day all!

Friday, January 19, 2007

A Night Time Snow Update

I figured since all the city's are showing some snow for the day and night so far I would do a quick update on the stats. When I say all, YES even Albany which finally made it over the inch mark picking up 1 inch so far for the day.

Buffalo and Rochester are reporting 2.1 inches but the stats are only up until around 5pm. Syracuse is showing 3 inches up until around 9pm and Binghamton as of 9pm is reporting 1.8 inches of new fresh snow. Tomorrow's stats could be really interesting with a possibility that when all the snow totals are added up we could have, do I dare to dream? We could have a new leader in the Great Golden Snowball contest. It all comes down to which way the wind blows and right now looking at the radar it's still blowing northwest setting Syracuse in the path of another lake effect band that started up north and drifted down south. According to WeatherT in the forum, that could be the norm for the rest of the night.

On the other hand Buffalo is suppose to start picking up some snow later on around 3am and if that happens they could fend off Syracuse's forecasted, premeditated, pre-planned attack. They were warned all day what could be coming and hopefully they took down their snow shield which has been protecting their city from the snow since the freak storm in October. Yeah, I know. I really need to start getting a life. Hey, Have a great night all!

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Syracuse Only Inches Away

Syracuse continues to make a move on Buffalo's first place status in this seasons Golden Snowball race. The lead has narrowed to 8.2 inches. On another note Rochester has started to make their move also, winning this last snow bout and finally making it over the 1 foot mark. A milestone that on a normal season would have been hit a long time ago. This weekend could be interesting and the current standing could change like the wind does.

Most of us are under a lake effect snow watch so keep an eye on the weather if your traveling. A chance of some snow late tonight but the pros are thinking some of the heavier snow could hit some of us starting late Friday thru late Saturday so check your favorite weather station to see what's going on.

Go Syracuse and I'm not talking weather. What a game last night even if they did blow a 19 point lead that they held at one point. They played one of the best first half's I have seen them play in a while. Unfortunately Cincy chipped away at it kind of like we are doing to Buffalo's lead in the snow race. We still romped them, errr beat em up, ummm, ok we barely won by a point with great defense on the last play of the game but it was a win and I like the way the team is playing team ball. Devo is giving the ball up great this year and will probably more than double his assists from last season which is making a huge difference, Watkins has stepped up and looks confident under the basket, Nichols is having an awesome season, Terrence has come off his injury with no problems, Rautins is starting to drop them in the bucket and the list of positives goes on for all of the players. Harris is starting to find his spot on the team. So what if we blew a big lead! We always do and I'm use to it by now. Just think how boring the games would be if we blew out the competition every game. Our guys do it on purpose because they don't want us getting bored. What a thoughtful bunch of players we have when you come to think about it. That said I'm really liking this team and I think they will get even better as the season goes on. Check out the players stats at http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/roster?collegeId=183 Have a great day all!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Some Awesome US Snow Stats

While visiting Sean Kirst's forum at syracuse.com/kirst and chatting about the Golden Snowball contest a post showed up from one of the members there, creditsuisse. He offered up the best stats I have ever seen to all of us that cover tons of the city's in the US and even Canada. Chris is his real name and he lives in the North Syracuse area. It is by far the most complete list I have come across while researching city snowfall amounts and even Chris admits that it could be flawed a little which is completely understandable for the fact that if you try and research certain data online, a lot of the time you will get conflicting reports. That said if you see something that might be off then just drop us an email or leave a message on the blog here at GSB and we will pass the information on to Chris who will update his stats.

Chris's web page is at http://reinventcny.tripod.com/ and if your a snow stats freak like myself and many others, get ready to awed. I know I was and I can't imagine the hours, days and weeks that probably went into researching all that data. Chris said that with his rankings "incorporated cities" is the criteria for getting on his snow totals list. He has the cities broken down as follows;

* Snowiest US Cities over 1,000 in population
* Snowiest US Cities over 10,000 in population
* Snowiest US Micropolitan and Metropolitan Areas
* Top 10 Snowiest US Metropolitan Areas
* Top 5 Snowiest US Cities over 100,000 in population
* Top 5 Snowiest US Metropolitan Areas over 1 Million
* Canada and the US

An example of one of the lists Chris has put together is below and check out his website at http://reinventcny.tripod.com/ for all the US city snowfall totals.

Snowiest US Cities over 1,000 in population

1) 350.0 Truckee, CA 15,000
2) 328.0 Valdez AK 4,000
3) 250.0 Munising, MI 2,000
4) 179.8 Marquette, MI (airport) 173.3 Marquette, MI (city) 19,000
5) 177.0 Gladstone, MI 5,000
6) 177.0 Iron River, MI 2,000
7) 173.3 Steamboat Springs, CO 9,000
8) 153.3 Oswego, NY 18,000
9) 153.0 Rome, NY 35,000
10) 149.6 Gaylord, MI 3,000
11) 141.0 Ishpeming,MI 6,000
12) 141.0 Negaunee, MI 4,000
13) 140.0 Fulton, NY 11,000
14) 135.0 Crystal Falls, MI 1,000
15) 133.1 Manistique, MI 3,000
16) 131.7 Escanaba, MI 13,000
17) 131.2 Sault Ste. Marie, MI 16,000
18) 128.6 Caspian, MI 1,000
19) 125.0 Traverse City, MI 14,000
20) 125.4 Iron Mountain, MI 8,000
21) 125.0 Kingsford , MI 5,000
22) 125.0 Norway, MI 2,000
23) 122.0 Haines, AK 2,000
24) 120.0 Boyne City, MI 3,000
25) 118.0 Cordova, AK 2,000
26) 117.0 Charlevoix, MI 3,000
27) 115.0 Caribou, ME 8,000
28) 114.9 Oneida, NY 10,000
29) 114.9 Sherill, NY 3,000
30) 113.8 Auburn, NY 28,000
31) 114.0 Watertown, NY 26,000
32) 111.9 Syracuse, NY 147,000 (airport)
33) 111.6 Presque Isle, ME 9,000
34) 108.2 Utica, NY 60,000
35) 108.0 Lander, WY 7,000
36) 101.6 Calais, ME 3,000
37) 101.0 Juneau, AK 30,000
38) 100.3 Rochester, NY 219,000
39) 100.3 Flagstaff, AZ 53,000
40) 98.7 Geneva, NY 13,000
41) 97.0 Buffalo, NY 292,000

Thanks again Chris for sharing all the great city snow totals with us here at goldensnowball.com and once again, WOW! Don't forget if you see a mistake or find another city that should be on the list, let us know so we can pass it along to Chris to keep his list updated. Have a great week all and look for snow throughout the week.

Snow totals stats source

Friday, January 12, 2007

I Had a Dream it Snowed

I had a dream last night that it snowed a couple of days ago and Syracuse got something like 11 inches. But then when I woke up I looked out the window and there wasn't 11 inches of snow. Just a little bit here and there in the yard. What a great dream it was. In other words,

What the (add your own cuss word here)heck happened to the snow? How can we have 11 inches of snow on the ground a day and a half ago and now practically nothing? The bigger question is why did I even bother to shovel the snow? I never had a chance to really play in it like I wanted to. Ok, enough of my whining.

Cold air is in the forecast for next week and early reports suggest that it might actually stick around this time which should help the skiing places out. Rumors are going all around about some big time snow coming our way. My sister informed me that the farmers almanac has a blizzard forecasted and a couple of other places are saying the same thing. Too early to tell what lies ahead but looking at what's going on down in Texas, where early predictions are maybe a couple of inches of freezing rain I think anything can happen at this point.

My prediction is that the ski resorts will be set for awhile beginning right around Monday. Have a great weekend all!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Snow Race is On

Once again, Look out Buffalo, Here come Da Cuse. Now we need Rochester and Binghamton to get their snow season going. Syracuse continues to sled a little bit closer to Buffalo plowing another 10 inches away from the lead that Buffalo held. Syracuse's final snow number for yesterday were 10.6 inches compared to Buffalo's 0.4 inches of new snow. So far since the October snow storm that Buffalo had, Syracuse has been able to cut about a 2 1/2 foot lead down to a 10.1 inch lead with plenty of winter left for all of the city's to step up.

For those of you cheering for Buffalo the bookies probably still have you as the favorites so I wouldn't lose the faith. The lakes are still warm and the lake effect snow machine is still going to be cranking out the snow. Syracuse needs to keep sneaking up on the leader while they aren't paying attention because Buffalo is due big time to get in on the lake effect. Last season Buffalo was just miles within winning the contest. Within miles of winning meaning that most of the towns just south of Buffalo were getting pounded throughout the season, but they just couldn't seem to get it to come up a little more north to get in on the fun.

As for Rochester it was pretty much the same thing. Snow all around them but missing the city. That's one of the funny things about lake effect snow bands. A little shift this way or that way and one town gets it were another town 5 miles away gets nothing. We were waiting in the forum for Tug Hill Tina to visit and let us know how much she received expecting to hear a couple of feet. She and her family are in the Champion area. Tina's post is below which sums it up best as to how peculiar the snow bands can be:

"Such a strange thing. I got nothing, zip, zilch, nada...........now about 30 minutes away from me near the Tug they got nailed. The cool thing though to report is my drive from Lowville to Champion. I wish I had my camera with me to show all of you the lake effect wall of clouds dumping on the Tug while I was under intense sunshine. It was like I had entered a Twilight zone-I'm driving along on dry pavement and then wham it was as if someone had drawn a line of the highway, complete white out and slipping and a sliding all over the place. I flipped a U and went the other way to clear skies. Such a cool weather phenom!"

Have a Great Day All!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Once Again Like a Little Kid

5:35PM UPDATE -

The stats were just posted by NOAA. The new stats are updated up to 4 - 5 pm for the citys. See the chart above! Syracuse's totals are a little disappointing but I'm not greedy. Ok, so I am but at least Syracuse has melted Buffalo's lead to just over a foot of snow now. Believe it or not the total snowfall for today for Syracuse sets a date record going back to 1959 which stood at 8.3 inches. So far today DaCuse reports in at 8.6 inches. Below are the totals so far for today's snow.

Syracuse - 8.6
Rochester - 1.1
Buffalo - 0.5
Albany - 0.4
Binghamton - 0.3

With it being so long since our last snowfall that little kid feeling hit again last night and real early this morning. This had the same feeling as the first snowfall of the season. I looked out the window right before I headed upstairs to bed last night and it was just starting to come down. Then for whatever reason I woke up at around 5:30 this morning and looked out the window from my bed and saw that beautiful shine of white gold on the roof and with the help of a distant light I could see that it was still coming down pretty good here in the Syracuse area. Knowing there wasn't a chance of falling right back to sleep I headed to the bay window in the living room to get a better look.

Yeah I know it's not like we have never seen snow around here. But this is really only the second decent snowfall for us all season and the first one was way back in December. While looking out the window I noticed that my kids never put the trash out last night. *%$%$@%*64 I said to myself as I threw on some clothes and a jacket and headed out the door to put the trash out. Of course it probably could of waited till later in the morning but I think it was an excuse to get out there and feel it. To feel the lake effect snow whipping all around the neighborhood. This time real snow too, not the fake cotton stuff that's now burried under the real snow.

Being a night owl normally and only seeing 5:30 - 6:00 am when I work late on the computer it was weird to see what goes on. A great sight to see was all the plow trucks flying up and down the street with the flashing lights as they headed down different streets to plow some of the driveways in the neighborhood. I'm sure by the end of our typical snow season it's probably tough even for them to get up and head out in the cold to plow peoples driveways. My bet is the excitement was there for them this morning also. Sure they probably are looking forward to the money they make but my bet is it was still fun to get out and play in it this morning.

Anyways, I shoveled a path down the driveway and put the trash out, minus the cotton snow of course ;) I figured while I am out there I might as well get a jump on the driveway and started to shovel it. After about five minutes of shoveling I hear the sound of another shovel scraping the driveway across the street. For me to be out there before 6am and shoveling is one thing, but for there to be 2 of us right across the street from each other that early was just plain crazy. Of course the only crazy part was that I was out there. I think it's normal for my neighbors to be up and about that early. As I get near the bottom of the driveway I yell silently (is that possible) to Julie across the street. "Morning Julie, Ya Gotta Love it Huh, Finally Some Snow" in which she replies something like "Uh, No Not Really, Are Ya Crazy". I just took it in stride and continued to shoveling figuring that Julie is not a morning person and it was better to leave it at that for now. Most likely when we shovel later she will be liking it more, shoveling it the second time in a day.

More on the neighborhood. I look at another neighbors, Frank and Donna's house, next door to Julie's and scratch my head. His driveway was already shoveled. Here it is not even 6:00 am yet and Frank beat both Julie and myself to the snow. So here I am thinking I am going to be the first one in my neighborhood to play in the snow and I was wrong. I looked at my next door neighbor and Cheryl's lights were on. Now I start thinking to myself that I don't think this is a normal everyday occurrence for all the neighborhood to be up this early. I think this is the kind of effect that a good blast of snowfall has on us big kids ;)

Enjoy the snow all and look for an update once the totals come in later in the day and evening.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

The Snow Dance, Reverse Psychology or Threats

Was it the snow dance or perhaps trying reverse psychology on mother nature? Maybe it was the threat of NYCO to put the Snow God back in the closet or maybe it was just our weather finally doing what it is suppose to do this time of year. SNOW! Whatever the reason sfter one of the lamest, most pitiful snow seasons so far that I can remember, snow is finaly in the air, and on the ground. Up to the north snow is on the ground so fire up the sleds while it's there. Some unofficial reports are coming in the forum that the Tug Hill area is showing anywheres from 12 - 18 inches and the snow continues to fall. I'm still waiting for Tug Hill Tina to give us a report in the forum as to how much snow she has on the ground there. ZR800 posted in the Golden Snowball forum the following from NOAA:

Other reports so far from the Buff NWS...
Colden 10"
Warsaw 11"
N Oseola 9"
Portagville 6"

None of the GSB city's are reporting snow from over night. Come tomorrow morning that will all change. NOAA just updated it's current warnings at http://www.weather.gov/view/prodsByState.php?state=ny&prodtype=warnings

Right now they are predicting 10 - 16 inches in persistant snow areas meaning if the lake effect bands tend to sit in spots or keep devoloping in certain spots, look out. My guess is that all the city's will see something by morning and I think out of the 5 golden snowball cities, Syracuse is going to win this round with Rochester coming in second.

Monday, January 8, 2007

The Snow Dance Has Taken Place

On January 7th at approximately 10:34 pm this seasons first snow dance was performed. Now all we can do is sit and wait to see what happens. Having a 90% or so success rate in past years I'm expecting that percentage to go up. As I mentioned in our forum I get a little nervous each and every time I perform the dance. Nothing could be worse than me over doing it, doing it wrong or God forbid doing the wrong dance and waking up and seeing on the news that a freak Tidal Wave hit the North East or something.

Right now it is windy and snow is in the forecast. Mostly for the Oswego and Tug Hill area. The dance won't take credit unless the totals are way over what is predicted seeing how it was already in the forecast before the dance was done. That said, the dance was done to try and bring a sustained cold air mass to the GSB cities and also the surrounding area so that the snowmobilers and skiers can try and salvage the time that is left. Also as pointed out by TioTonto at Syracuse.com I have been leaving out the ice fishing people. The shores haven't even started to freeze over on the lakes and I am sure they are itching to get out there on the ice.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if ice fishing is a separate permit? Are you allowed to fish from the shores or from a boat if there isn't any ice on the lake?

Something scary happened while performing the snow dance last night. I almost thought I was having a hallucination. While performing the ritual I looked around and saw what appeared to be tiny little spots of snow about the size of a small snowball blowing around the yard and the neighborhood. I'm good at what I do but not that good. After a minute or so of thinking I was that good one of the white snowball sized pieces blew against me. As I picked it up I realized what it was. My sisters stopped by this weekend to help take the Christmas decorations down. One of them threw away what my son puts around our Nativity scene every year. Cotton, and lots of it. It turns out that the wind blew over the trash can and all the cotton, tons of it had escaped. So to my neighbors, my bad and if you see some fake snow blowing around my apologies. I tried to gather it up but with the wind the way it was it just wasn't gonna happen. Just pretend it's real snow and think of it as more of a late Christmas present from the snowman or better yet, the idiot that lives at the top of the street. Have a Great Week All!

Friday, January 5, 2007

Hopefully No More Snow This Season

I hate snow. I'm hoping that the weather stays just like it is. Please Mother Nature, don't let it snow.

OK, before you all pound me with emails calling me a traitor hold off on them. I'm trying reverse psychology on Mother Nature to see if that will work seeing how nothing else has so far. I know it's not nice to fool Mother Nature but I'll have to take that chance. In reality I'm sitting around like the rest of you, make that some of you, waiting for this winter to begin.

I just read a couple of articles looking at our seasons weather with 2 different views. Sean Kirst's article in the Post Standard today talks about how the nice/crappy weather makes it easier on certain people. Read the article here!

Hart Seely also has an article in the Post Standard but with a different look. Hart looks at the way it is effecting the Tug Hill Plateau and other areas that counts on the business from the snowmobilers. Read the article Here!

It will be snowing sometime soon. How do I know you might ask? Because this weekend I will be doing my stupid but normally effective snow dance which so far has worked about 90% of the time. I can't give the exact time or place because this is a dance that the local, make that world media would just love to get on film. Ok maybe not the world media but I'm sure a neighbor would like to get it on film and post it on youtube.com to show what an idiot the Snowman really is. Enough said! Shine up the skis, tune up the sleds, the snow dance is coming this weekend. Have a Great weekend all!

Thursday, January 4, 2007

A Great Site by Rich Holmes is Missing

Normally at the beginning of the season I spend hours trying to find websites or pages that are no longer where they use to be. NOAA is pretty good about moving pages around that have all the stats I use but after awhile searching or with the help of Daver from the forum who works for NOAA I am able to find them.

One of my favorite sites for updated stats from the past and present has always been http://mep1.phy.syr.edu/~rsholmes/snow.html which I believe was kept up by Rich Holmes who I believe is a professor at SU from what my research in the past has shown. Well this snow season the site is no where to be found and man do I miss it. That said I am on a quest to track Rich down and to see if he moved it some place else or if he gave up doing it all together. I'm hoping it was the first of the two, that it was just moved. If you look back the last couple of years you will see that I mentioned the site several times.

Most likely Rich has a great program that he ran that would compare all the data and list it on his site. Great comparisons such as the snowiest months, daily comparisons by seasons and so on. Anyways, I've found a couple of contacts for him so wish me luck on either finding out if he changed the location on the web or if he stopped keeping them, talking him into doing it again. The stats really kept things interesting here. More to come as the mystery of the missing website unfolds.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

The Golden Snowball Winning City Prediction

Maybe I better start paying attention to what ever it is that Al Gore has been talking about for the last several years. The skies are blue and the sun is shining. It wasn't this nice all summer long for crying out loud and here it is January 3rd and the temperature is hovering close to 50 degrees outside. Blame it on El Nino, Global warming or whatever, this just isn't right. How are we suppose to have our Indian summer or our January thaw when there isn't anything to thaw out. The lakes haven't even begun to freeze over yet. It's so nice even the fish are wearing sun glasses.






OK, enough whining even though that's what I do best. Time for my Golden Snowball winning city predictions and this season it's a tough one for a couple of reasons. One of the advantages Syracuse has over Buffalo is that once the lake freezes over Buffalo's lake effect snow diminishes. The colder air flowing over the lakes warmer waters produces the lake effect snow if I'm not mistaken. If I am mistaken then just bear with me while I try to bull my way through this seasons prediction. My guess is that the lake isn't even close to freezing over yet which in turn will be giving Buffalo an extended snow season unless the temps really take a huge dive. Taking all that in to consideration I'm still going to go out on a limb.

My prediction for the 2006 - 2007 Golden Snowball Award is

Syracuse

I was leaning towards picking Buffalo but I don't think they have a big enough lead at this point in the season to hold off Syracuse's motivation and drive to win this contest. After getting a first hand look at the trophy, I'm here to tell all the other cities that Syracuse isn't ready to give up the trophy yet without a fight. Hopefully a fun snowball fight ;) Below are my city predictions in order.

1st Place - Syracuse
2nd Place - Buffalo
3rd Place - Binghamton
4th Place - Rochester
Dead Last - Albany (my most confident prediction go figure)

I'm still counting on the weather coming up from the gulf states which is one of the reasons I picked Binghamton over Rochester. If that doesn't happen it will be a free for all for the trophy most likely between Buffalo, Syracuse and Rock City. Have a great day all!

Monday, January 1, 2007

Have a Happy New Year All

May all of you and your families a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

For those of you who have been down on luck lately, may it change to only good luck for you.

For those of you that have lost a loved one recently, may the fond memories carry you through the new year and help you deal with your pain and loss.

For those of you struggling financially, May the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow be within reach for you.

For those of you who are depressed and can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, keep up hope. If you lose hope you lose everything. Don't ever stop dreaming of what may be ahead for you. If you feel you have lost all hope then talk to someone. Pick up the phone and call a hot-line if you feel you can't talk to family or friends. Just type in help hotline and your area or state and you will come up with many numbers of people that want to help.

For those of you with loved ones serving our country, May they be safe and come home soon.

For those of you serving our country, Thanks says it all and stay safe.

For those of you in an abusive relationship, Make this the year, better yet make today the day you seek help to end it. Read to see if this you http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/domestic-violence/WO00044 and call the number.

For the snowmobilers, skiers, sledders, plowers, skaters, snowboarders and whoever I missed, may the snow God shine upon you soon.

For my attempt at a mushy New Years greeting, May it never happen again.

Have a Safe and Happy 2007 All!