Rochester Pushes Buffalo Down the Snow Hill
Syracuse remains king of the snow hill still but Rochester didn't like the fact that Buffalo took 2nd place from them. Rochester gathered enough of the white gold to move back into 2nd place. Other than a flurry here and there it's been pretty quiet lately as far as any good storms go. Hopefully we can get back into them.
All of the Golden Snowball award cities are still over their normal averages for the season and also staying above last years totals at this time in the winter. Syracuse is now just under 3 inches away from their normal yearly snowfall so I think it's a gimme now that they will be above their normals for the season.
Looking at the other cities they are all still on track to slip past their totals also. Speaking of the yearly average snow stats you probably see several different totals if your surfing other weather sites. The reason for that is that some go by what the total average is since snow stats were being recorded, others go by the last 30 years and here at Golden Snowball we go by what NOAA goes by which is a 30 year average on a 10 year rolling schedule.
In other words, we use the stats that NOAA uses in which they average the 30 year totals on a 10 year scale. The last time they would have averaged the total snowfall for the GSB cities would have been in 2000 if my memory serves me right and remember it normally doesn't. The next time they will calculate a 30 year average should be in 2010, next year I believe. Personally I would rather see the 30 year average taken on a 5 year schedule but no doubt they have their reasons and know what they are doing :)
Have a great day all!
posted by Patrick @ 11:20 AM
15 Comments
15 Comments:
Going to be a tough road for Buffalo now that Erie is almost completely frozen!
ZR, you could be right unless we can all get back into the storms that were hitting us earlier. It's been a little too quiet lately for my likings :( May be time for a storm dance ;)
I am in TX all next week so I assume you will get some nice storms while I am gone. Although we keep piling up a few inches at time, I am ready for a good dumping.
ZR, ya better bring your winter clothing. I just heard it's something like 40 degrees in Dallas. I was there years ago and had a great time. The only thing I didn't like is that it was over 100 degrees the whole time when I went which wasn't much fun. I don't think you'll have to worry about that though. Hopefully it will warm up for you though to give you and your(family?) a break from the cold. Have fun!
It is over for Buffalo now that the lake is frozen, especially since it's not been over freezing 1day since I don't recall when.
Are any of you guys meteorologists, climatalogists, etc?
I studies this stuff in college and know (ar barely retained) a good enough amount to be dangerous.
Red (Rochester)
What are the criteria for 'city'? I ask becasue Watertown, NY has received so much more snow than Syracuse. Over 60 inches more! I live in Adams, NY and we were at 169 inches at the beginning of the week and we may have received anonther 10" to a foot since it started to snow last night, 25 Jan, and it's still coming down!
Red, I'm still thinking of last year and how Syracuse had a pretty good lead only to have the contest end with the cities within just a few inches of each other because of the March storm. The storm hit Buffalo and Rochester and missed Syracuse keeping it close. IMO as long as the cities are within a few feet of each other then no city has it locked yet. Just my opinion of course. That said it looks like a storm may be heading our way in the next 48 hours or so. It will be interesting to see if it shifts to the east or west ;)
Nimue, I was looking around for Watertowns snow stats for this season and couldn't find any. I haven't seen a whole lot going on this year in Watertown but then again I may have missed it. I know they have had a few good lake effect events including one that has been going on the last 24 hours or so though. I would still like to see some stats to see where Watertown is at right now. As for Adams, NY most likely your stats are right. I was just checking a few other cities and although I don't have any totals for the town one thing that caught my eye was that Hooker, NY has a snow base of 51 inches and probably has for awhile now. Below is what I posted in another thread about Watertown:
Anon and Josh, when I started keeping the stats for the Golden Snowball contest I talked with several people. Some who were the people that got the idea and started the contest back in the past. I came to the conclusion that the 5 cities that are now in it were the original cities and was also told that Binghamton actually won it in the past.
I did start up kind of like a second contest for several cities with smaller populations and Watertown was indeed included in that along with I think Utica, Fulton and Oswego. The problem was that there really wasn't much interest in it along with a bigger problem. It was almost impossible to get stats on a regular basis which makes for a pretty boring contest when your lucky to find stats once a month if that. The other problem is that with the smaller cities they don't have a National weather service (NOAA).
No doubt some of the town in the Buffalo area, up North and so on blow all of us away and I love getting emails from people from those towns letting me know how much snow they are getting.
That said, I have always leaned towards putting Utica into the line-up and perhaps dropping Albany. Unfortunately they don't have a weather station as far as I know plus I'm pretty much just the official score keeper and it's a city contest :)
I think the city has to be an official SMSA (standard metropolitan statistical area) and with a commercial airport that tracks/records official weather data for or by NOAA.
Not sure, it's been a long time, but that's my "educated" guess at why Watertown, Oswego, Utica (and Lake Placid for that matter) are not included.
We all know that corrider would win hands down.
Red
Patrick,
Binghatmon did win it one year. I am originally from there and I remember it. I'll try and come up with the year. I recall a solid
12"+ snowfall around mid-April that sealed it.
Red
All,
Binghamton actually won it 3 times. The year I recall was 1982-83. BGM also took the crown in 1963-64 and 1967-68.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowfall_Statistics_for_Golden_Snowball_Award_Cities
It is worth noting that the BGM airport is at the highest point of elevation in Broome County (Mt. Ettrick)
Bing airport is at 1637ft.
The high point is out in Sanford at around 2200.
My house is higher than the airport at 1650.
Red, Yup you are right as to Binghamton winning the contest that one season which was in 82 - 83 with 81 inches of snow.
If the contest was going from the beginning they would have won it 3 times as you mentioned. The GSB contest started in the late 70's though so 1 trophy to Binghamton ;) Which still impresses me BTW. That's why I picked them as the long-shot of the season ;)
Any city would definitely need as you also mentioned tracks/records official weather data for or by NOAA. When I started to keep the stats I researched and as mentioned kept the same 5 cities as the original contest was.
I actually had to fight to keep Binghamton and Albany in the contest where as lets just say others wanted it strictly Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. I also wanted to get Utica in the contest and perhaps drop Albany (1 in 200 chance at winning) but as far as I know there isn't any official NOAA weather station there.
I WANT TO TELL YOU WHAT THE SNOWFALL IS FOR OUR LITTLE TOWN OF ADAMS HAS SO FAR THIS YEAR IS I69 INCHES AND STILL SNOWING. IT IS A LITTLE VILAGE SOUTH OF WATERTOWN ABOUT 14 MILES, AND ITS RIGHT IN THE PATH OF LAKE EFECT SNOW STORMS. SO I THINK WE SHOULD BE IN THE RUNNING FOR THE GOLDEN SNOWBALL AWARD ANDY SAYS
Ok I would be happy to not win the awrd for one year, enough already, we are due to get another foot or more. Sun we miss you please come back to Syracuse.
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