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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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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Buffalo Slides into Second Place in the Snow Race

While I was sipping egg nog punch, hosting out of town guests and playing with my Christmas presents Buffalo managed to get enough snow to slide past Rochester for the second place slot. WTG Buffalo and the General. Not only did they get the snow they had some nasty Hurricane wind gusts that knocked out power to thousands of homes. Here in DaCuse it's snowing with more in the forecast along with the gust winds that kept me up most of the night.

Binghamton better get their snow dance going because if they aren't careful they may start flirting with the last place slot which Albany currently holds. One thing I am noticing that seems different from last season is that we got a lot of snow in December but then it quieted down. We're still not out of December and so far there really isn't no signs of the snow letting up other than this past weekend.

Speaking of Binghamton, I had a phone conversation with John Hill who is a reporter/journalist at the Press and Sun Bulletin in the Binghamton area. He did an interview about the contest which I believe is the first one from the Bingo area. It's a good fun article which you all know I like and anytime my name is in print other than the police blotter it can't be half bad ;). Just one thing to mention which was my bad and not John's is that there is a new trophy now that was donated by A1 Trophy here in the Syracuse area. Thanks for the great read John. You can find the article here at PressConnects.com

Talking about my Christmas presents :) OK so we weren't talking about my presents but we will. I won't go through all of them but one was from the secret Santa which turned out to be my niece Jess. All the family come over to our house on Christmas Eve and we celebrate along with exchanging gifts. Well the present that she bought me ended up getting stolen from their condo when the carrier left it in the lobby. So she did her best to get it delivered here in our area in time but it just didn't happen. She even went to UPS right before they closed on Christmas eve but it was too late. Anyways to make one of my super long stories just long she ended up getting me a few things so I would at least have something to open and they would be clues as to what she got me. Of course being you all know me, the clueless guy on the web, didn't have a chance at guessing what she bought. The worse thing is that it was on my list and I totally forgot I had it on Santa's list. I was thinking more in the line of clothes because that was what most of my list consists of. I'll give the 3 clues that Jess gave me to open up and see if any of you can guess what the gift which I received Christmas morning ended up being.

It was a snow hat with ear muffs, sunglasses and an ice scraper. Keep in mind that by the time they drove in from Mass they ended up at the gas station I think to try and put something together for me which wasn't even necessary.

One of the other gifts I got is kind of an easy one to guess. The clues are My whole body is sore, millions of families probably got them this Christmas and one doctor says he sees at least 10 people a week with some kind of sore muscle or injury from this fun gift.

OK, enough for now and if I don't get the chance to get online to post before New Years, here is wishing everyone a SUPER Happy New Year in 2009. To John Hill, thanks for the great article and phone conversation. It was a fun article about the Golden Snowball Award ;)

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Syracuse Already Halfway to Season Snowfall Totals

Just one day after winter started Syracuse is already has more than half of their season total snowfall and the other cities aren't doing to shabby either and Rochester is there also. Buffalo, who I thought would take second place after this last round fell just short and Binghamton has quieted down, for now anyways.

No way did I think Syracuse would come close to hitting last years totals for this time in the snow season but with 8 days left they are blowing the numbers away and if the snow continues they may have at least a top 5 December since records were being kept. Close to 30 inches of snow for Syracuse since the 20th and yesterday was a non stop lake effect snow event that truly was awesome. A total of 13.5 inches fell in DaCuse (more at my house but isn't that the way it always is) which broke a date record set back in 1962.

No way did I think Rochester would manage to hold off Buffalo for second place but they did. Watching the radar on Sunday it looked like Buffalo was piling up the inches which they did do pretty good but just not enough reported by NOAA to over take the 2nd place slot. My guess is they may have received more than reported but the General reported pretty high winds so most likely it was tough measuring the snow as it blew around. Same thing most likely happened in the Syracuse area yesterday.

I'm not liking the fact that rain and mix is in the forecast for the next day or so. If I remember correctly we barely had a white Christmas last year if we even did have one because of the same thing. A ton of snow and then rain to wipe it all out. HOPEFULLY THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN THIS YEAR :(

This is still a close race and similar to last season when Syracuse finally got a decent lead on the other cities and they came flying back at the end of the season to make it one of the closest races since the Golden Snowball contest started up again. Don't even think about counting Binghamton out either. I don't think we are close to being done with the Nor Easter's and we all know how well Bingo normally does with those storms.

All of the cities are now over last years totals and the average snowfall totals for this time of the year. I'm liking my winter forecast right now but of course I was liking it last year about this time and all of the sudden everything stopped and the general kicked my butt with the winter outlook. This years official, highly scientific Golden Snowball Forecast.

Have a Super Day All and enjoy the sun as it pops out every now and then!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

It's Heeerrreee, HAPPY WINTER ALL

5:00 PM Update - Buffalo moves into 3rd place! The numbers just came out for Buffalo, Rochester Syracuse, Binghamton and Albany and the snowfall totals should be caught up as of 4PM today for this last blast of the white gold. The stats chart above should be up to date.

Buffalo set another record for todays date and it isn't slowing down there yet. They seem to be caught in the perfect band of snow coming off the lake and it's just not moving at all. Watch out Rochester, watch your back Syracuse!

Buffalo so far has 7.4 more inches of snow breaking the date record that went way back to 1914.

Albany set another date record picking up 6.3 inches so far today.

Syracuse just reported 5.3 inches

Rochester shows 3.8 inches and Bingo so far is slagging for this last storm with 3.1 inches of snowfall. WHAT A WAY FOR WINTER TO BEGIN,EH?

12/21 3:00 PM Update - There still isn't much new snow being reported yet from early this morning but once the reports from NOAA get updated we'll do an update. Looking at the radar Buffalo could be making a move for second place right now for the fact that their lake effect machine seems to have been running for awhile now. Who knows, they may even try to slip into the lead if it doesn't stop sometime soon. Nothing in the Syracuse area for now and the sun even peaked out for a few minutes. Stay tuned for a change in the Golden Snowball lineup later this evening when some new stats come out. Just a warning for those of you heading out. The winds are suppose to pick up quite a bit and with all the snow on the ground most likely whether it's snowing or not it will probably get a little bit hairy driving with the wind blown snow.

Well maybe not all but happy winter to some of you anyways. The sledders, skiers, etc! If I'm right and remember normally I'm not, Winter will start December 21st 2008 at 7:04 am EST this morning. Normally I try to make it a point to look out the window at the change of seasons just to say goodbye to one and welcome the new season but come on, 7:04 am on a Sunday morning is pushing it a little. If it was at 7:04 in the evening I may have done my normal goodbye - hello thing but I'll pass on this one most likely unless by some kind of fluke I'm up that early I'll say goodbye to autumn before I go to bed tonight and hello to winter when I wake up in the morning.

This Seasons Golden Snowball Winter Outlook Prediction

It's always kind of hard to except that with the snow we normally receive before winter like this season that winter is just starting isn't it? Well it is and for those of you who aren't too crazy abut the cold and snow just keep telling yourself that spring is just around the corner. Ummm, then another corner and another and.... You get the point I'm sure. For the snow lovers we have probably a good 3 months or so of the fun white fluffy stuff to play around in so enjoy it while it lasts. Spring is just around the...Yeah, I already went there huh.

Anyways keep an eye out on your local weather forecast for today because another storm will be dropping snow on most if not all of the Golden Snowball cities and a bunch of other towns starting early Sunday morning. Right now there are a few warnings out and a whole lot of snow advisories posted. The chances are it will be snowy and windy so as always take it easy driving. More to come later in the day.

HAVE A GREAT WINTER EVERYONE!!! (Wow it's been a whole year since that was said)

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Snowfall Records Set for 4 Out of 5 Cities

Well the numbers are in and I have to admit that it was a pretty good storm that swung by yesterday. For those of you snow haters I suppose you can at least be thankful that it was a fast storm and blasted through all the areas pretty quickly otherwise the totals would have been a lot higher. Four out of five broke snowfall records for the date and all 5 broke some kind of records. Here is what NOAA is reporting for yesterday for the golden snowball cities:

Buffalo - 10.1 Record Broken from 1985
Syracuse - 9.5 Record Broken from 1981
Rochester - 8.9 - Record Broken from 1981
Albany - 7.8 - Record Broken from 1986
Binghamton - 6.3 (Did Break a Precipitation record from 1979 of 0.44)

Of course Binghamton came in last place because I picked them to come in first but in fairness if it wasn't for them not getting all snow I think they may have taken 1st. OK, I blew it with Bingo! Albany finally put up something worth talking about but Nah, at least they are close to their normal totals now.

4 out of 5 are now over our average snowfall for the season and most of us closed the gap as far as how much snow we had this time last year in the snow season. Binghamton is actually ahead of their totals from last season. Good news for you snow lovers, skiers, sledders and all other Winter lovers is more snow is on the way and most likely Winter will be coming in like us men shoppers shopping on Christmas Eve! Have a great weekend all and stay tuned to your local forecasts for tomorrows weather.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Should Schools Close for Snow or Early Release

First with a storm like todays storm I don't think I would want to be a Superintendent of any district in New York, having to make a choice whether to open up for a couple of hours and get school aid or to close. Nice run on sentence huh ;)

Our district (East Syracuse Minoa, ESM) decided to close which IMO was the right decision. I think it was just last week that most schools had a 2 hour delay and we only had an hour delay. Bad mistake because the roads were still covers and I watched out the window as a school bus had to slow down quickly as a car went off the road. In other words a 2 hour delay was the right decision and don't get me wrong. I think we have an AWESOME leader in our school district who is doing some great things and has in the past made the right moves like she did today.

I'm looking at the radar right now and the snow is knocking at our door in the Syracuse area which makes me wonder will all of the kids be home safe before the roads start to deteriorate? Some of the districts will have kids on the bus probably still at noon because they opened up only to let the kids go back home at 11:00 - 11:30. Most likely everything will go just fine with the early dismissals but I still think of the other day and what a difference just an hour can make when it comes to snow and snow storms. So I guess the question is should the schools take a chance and open for a couple of hours or should they just shut down and take a snow day? OK, enough rambling about that I suppose!

It's 10:30 and the light snow has just started here in DaCuse!

Another good question for the day is which city will make out with this storm? I don't see anyone taking the lead away from Syracuse with this snow storm but I can definitely see a change up in the line-up by the end of it. Buffalo, Rochester and Binghamton should all be having second place on their mind right now. I'll go with Binghamton winning this storm followed by Buffalo, Albany, Rochester and Syracuse in dead last this time. Any thoughts? Have a Super weekend All!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

More Snow for New York - Winter Storm Coming?

12:30 am Friday - It's a go! All of the golden snowball cities are in the target zone for this coming storm which will be hitting all the areas sometime this morning hopefully after the morning rush hour. I hope for the kids sakes that the schools aren't going to make them get up and go to school for a couple of hours just to send them home around noon or so. Save the gas for the school buses and enjoy a 3 day weekend. JMO of course but I'll be pulling for the kids to have a snow day come morning ;)

SNOW MEANS SLOW - Stay safe all and buckle up!

1:30 PM Thurs - It looks like Buffalo and Rochester strike first as far as the WARNINGS go! NOAA (the national weather service) in Buffalo just issued a winter storm warning for both Buffalo and Rochester from around 6am Friday morning until around 10PM Friday night. Keep checking the weather links below for current updates!

Early Morning Update - Just a another heads up to keep an eye on the forecast for your area beginning late Thursday night and possible right thru a good part of Friday. Kids, you may be getting a 3 day weekend ;) You can keep checking the latest storm warnings and watches at the links below.

Watches and Warnings for the Syracuse, Binghamton and other areas

Current Watches and Snow Storm Warnings for the Buffalo, Rochester and Surrounding Areas

Current Snow Storm Warnings and Watches for Albany and Eastern New York State

A good part of New York State is under a winter storm watch right now and most likely could change to warnings for many of the cities in NY. Drive Careful or better yet if the storm does indeed hit stay off the roads because it looks like some windy weather may also be around to blow the snow around. More to come as the storm gets closer. Have a Super Day All!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Snow on It's Way for Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester

Taking a peak at the radar tonight before I hit the sack it looks like snow is getting reading to move into s few of the Golden Snowball cities so you might want to set the alarms a little earlier than normal. Most likely the roads may be a bit sloppy come the morning rush hour and as always it will be interesting to see which city makes out on this little blast of snow. More to come tomorrow including some new snow totals.

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Saturday, December 13, 2008

Over a Million Without Power After Ice Storm

A quote I read yesterday is probably being repeated over and over again in many cities in a few different states including the Albany area.

"This is pathetic," said Bob Cott of Portland, Maine, who lost power. "I'm already sick of winter and we have nine days to go before it officially begins."

Here in New York state over a quarter of a million people were without power as the first storm of the season produced snow, freezing rain and ice in New York, Mass, Maine, Pa and New Hampshire. Most of the GSB cities were spared the power outages because it was cold enough for it to be snow. Albany wasn't as lucky unfortunately and hopefully everyone will get their power back soon. The temps are looking to warm up come tomorrow and it's looking like 50's come Monday in some of the areas.

NBC News Article About the Storm



As far as snow goes not a whole lot and I think Binghamton was the city that surprised me the most. I was watching some of the radars and seen what looked to be several heavy bands including some red on the screen which should have meant a lot of snow. My guess is it may have just missed where the measurements are taken or perhaps it was rain falling. Here in my neck of the woods which is just southeast of the airport we got about 6 inches of the white gold and it wasn't the nice white fluffy stuff. It was the moisture filled heavy snow that most of us dread shoveling. Luckily for me my youngest son stopped over and had the driveway shoveled by the time I got home. Most of the snow here in the Syracuse area came early in the morning once the storm shifted enough to the east and it came down hard and all at once.

Rochester was able to grab a little over an inch but Buffalo wasn't able to sneak anything out of this one. Don't worry I'm sure the General has something up his gloves and will find away to slip to the top sometime soon. No city is running away with the trophy so far and it's going to be a close race this season.

Like Bob Cott said, It's Not Even Winter Yet! Have a great day everyone!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Snow for Binghamton, Albany and New Orleans?

8 PM Update - It just started snowing in DaCuse about 20 minutes ago. Just a light to moderate snowfall so far though. Talk about being right on the boarder of this storm.

If it moves 10 - 15 miles more to the north west we could see some decent snow. Like I said we are JUST on the edge of this storm right now to get at least something. I just talked to a woman I know in Schenectady or near there anyways and she said it has been mostly snow for them. I wonder if Albany can be as lucky and get the snow instead of the freezing rain and ice?

2:30 PM Update - First off remember I'm clueless half (most) of the time but I was just checking out the National radar and to me it looks like the storm has/is starting to shift a little more Northwest than it was earlier and perhaps even intensifying a bit. Most of the forecasts have had Syracuse in the 2 - 5 inch range so far but personally I wouldn't be surprised if the totals for Syracuse and even Rochester go up as the day goes on. Maybe even big if the LES machine gets cranking also. Call it just a hunch and as always remember the source, Me ;)

Morning - Something just doesn't seem right when you hear about it snowing in New Orleans. Nor does it sound normal to hear of snow showers in Houston but that's what the news of the day is today along with the system that's moving toward the Northeast today. Most likely Binghamton will make out with what's coming our way and Albany will be getting something finally but unfortunately it may be more of a freezing rain and ice event rather than snow.

After looking at a couple of radars and reading around it looks like Binghamton may have a shot to take the lead over from Syracuse but as we all know a shift here or there could change things drastically. Albany is almost certain now to get some kind of mixed precipitation while so far NOAA thinks that Binghamton should be more snow than a mix. Syracuse and Rochester should get into a little bit of the snow but right now it's pointing more toward Binghamton as being the winner of this storm. Most likely we will be reading about power outages come later tonight or tomorrow due to ice and freezing rain which will probably bring down power lines and tree limbs in a few states including parts of eastern New York.

Buffalo has been slowly adding to their totals to get to a respectable snow total now but they are still lagging and just one notch above Albany and the last place slot. Looking at last seasons stats though they were in the same position at this time last season and they made a run for first place right down til the finish so no way am I thinking for a minute that they won't be near the top again this snow season. Buffalo's snow totals are actually higher right now than last season so we all better watch our backs. Syracuse and Rochester are actually below last seasons totals for this time along with Albany but Albany will probably take care of that in the next day or so. Anyways if Your in Binghamton or Albany, keep an eye on your forecast for the next 24 hours or so and drive careful.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Official Golden Snowball Winter Outlook Prediction

It's that time of the season to issue the Golden Snowball 2008 - 2009 winter prediction and if your a snow hater you might want to stop reading right about now.

Snow, Snow and more snow is what the GBS Oracle sees in the future. As always this is based on highly scientific data. Highly scientific data such as the size of the deer, the color of the caterpillars fur, the flip of a coin and more importantly than all the others the color of my mustache and goatee as I start it for another winter season.

1) The deer are pointing toward a cold winter. Normally I talk to couple of buddies who hunt to see how big the deer are during the hunting season which I did but really didn't need to do this year. In recent months I've had at least 4 deer dart in front of the car, one which had to have nicked the car as I slammed on the breaks. Two of the deer were pretty big and the others were pretty young. My brother-in-law's buddy got a 4 pointer which was a little above average size but listening to a guy talk to his friends in a local watering hole I overheard (eavesdropped) him mention to his friends that he shot a 5 pointer that was HUGE! So the deer are making me lean toward a cold and snowy winter.

2) What is it with the caterpillars fur that may predict how the winter will be. Last year I mentioned that I had a casual conversation with a woman who passes by my house everyday as she walks to work. She mention that she thought it would be a mild winter last year, which it was because of the caterpillars coat. Of course being the fool you all know I am I asked her was it a thick coat? Hey, I don't know if caterpillars have thick and thin coats kind of like dogs. Who knows, maybe they shed them in the summer and grow them thick in the winter. Nope, that wasn't what she meant. She said that if a caterpillars color is light then it means that the winter will be mild and if it is dark then it will be a cold winter. A cold winter around the GSB cities means Lake Effect Snow of course at least until Lake Erie freezes over. Anyways I saw the woman walking as I was driving and pulled over to give her a ride like many people in the neighborhood do when they see her. It's about a 2 - 3 mile walk for her. Of course the first question I anxiously asked her was about the caterpillars. What color was the fur this year? Were they light colored or dark. The answer wasn't really what I was looking for but it will have to do as I make this HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC forecast for this winter. She said she hardly even seen any caterpillars this year. ??????? Does that mean they have already went into hiding from the snow? Did they know it would be a cold November and they went wherever they go earlier than normal? By the way, where exactly do caterpillars go anyways? OK, I know I'm rambling on so she did mention that the few she saw this summer were normal as she got out of the car at her work place. I yelled out what does normal mean as she slowly got lost into the crowd. I'll take normal color to mean that it will be an average winter but what does the lack of caterpillars mean? Early hibernation? We'll call that a draw and leave out the data about the caterpillars.

3) The flip of the coin has done well in the past even though I haven't really talked about it much. I'll keep this one short. Heads it's going to be a nasty winter, tails it will be mild. HEADS IT WAS! Enough said!

4) The color of the goatee and mustache. It can't get any more scientific than that can it? Nothing to do with the fact that I'm getting older than dirt and that the chances are if we go by that it's going to be a whiter and whiter winter as the winters go by. I just looked in the mirror and NO, IT DIDN'T BREAK! It did look a little more darker than last season though which can only mean one of two things. The Grecian 5 mustache dye hasn't washed out completely yet or it is going to be an average winter. I'm going with the first choice on this one ;) Let it Snow!

Don't forget that I was way off last year and the General kicked my butt on the winter outlook predictions last season but my predictions about a lot of what I thought would happen actually did. I was thinking Nor Easter's last season and they did indeed happen as I predicted. The only problem was that the air was too warm so most of the storms were either rain, freezing rain or sleet. If the temperatures were just a few degrees colder we all would have had some awesome snow events. Unfortunately most of those storms never panned out.

I think this season it will be cold enough for a few of the Nor Easter's to produce some decent snowfall this season but I like something even more. I'm liking the way the cold air seems to be dropping from Canada so far. I'm liking the flow of the winds coming from the North West which in my opinion will continue and this is based on nothing but intuition. That's going to make for some good lake effect snow this season and a lot of it.

So here it is in a snowflake! Colder than normal at least thru December, January and February. Above average snow snow for all of the Golden Snowball cities including Albany. Will there be a new king of the snow hill come the end of the 2008 - 2009 winter snow season? Remember last year was a close race right to the end and I think this season will be no different.

Here is the prediction for the winner of the 2008 - 2009 Golden Snowball contest:

Rochester - 147 inches
Syracuse - 143 inches
Buffalo - 131 inches
Binghamton - 111 inches
Albany - 68 inches

Possible Long shot of Winning the Contest - Binghamton if the Nor Easters play out and also if the winds keep coming out of the north to reach Bingo!

WInter Outlook Prediction - Colder than Normal and Snowier than Normal Winter! Would you expect anything less from me?

With that all said, remember the source and how clueless I normally am. Have a Safe Winter and as always Snow Means Slow, take it slow this snow season everyone.