Man, talk about getting caught sleeping on the job. It took a wake up call (email) from Mike, a visitor to the site to let me know that Binghamton picked up some snow over the last 24 hours that I didn’t catch. Way to go Bingo on adding another 2.7 inches to your season totals and bumping Syracuse out of the lead and better yet Buffalo drops down to 3rd place. They actually have a snow base of a couple of inches which is pretty impressive also.

Binghamton is also the only golden snowball city to be over their average for this time of the year. I’ve been racking my brain trying to predict a winner for this season between Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse and now I have to throw Binghamton into the equation 🙁 They have won the trophy in the past so it’s not out of the question. If Albany ever wins the contest I don’t want to hear a word from anyone about there not being some kind of climate change taking place. Not to worry, that will never happen. Thanks again Mike for the heads up and keeping me honest. Umm, and no I didn’t do it on purpose 🙂 Have a great day (night) everyone…

The defending champs, Syracuse has taken over the lead from Buffalo by just over an inch. What a difference a year makes. Last season no one was even close to Buffalo for a good part of the snowfall season because of their October storm which dumped 2 feet of snow on them. That’s one of the reasons I am liking the way the contest has started off this year so far. Look for many more lead changes in the next several months in my opinion.

Buffalo managed to hang onto the lead for yesterday BUT! Looking out the window right now and watching it come down last night there may be a new leader when NOAA puts out their later day stats. Syracuse is showing 2.1 inches for yesterday and more fell overnight. My guess is that Syracuse has probably picked up 3 – 5 inches so far but it’s just a guess. Binghamton is the first to strike when it comes to records this season. They tied their previous daily total for Nov 16th picking up 1.8 inches which ties a record set in 1999. I really think this will season will see a lot of lead changes which should make the contest a blast this season.

I was reading Sean Kirst’s blog at http://blog.syracuse.com/kirst/ and Sean mentioned that meteorologists in the US and Canada said that the 140 inches of snow Syracuse received last winter made DaCuse the snowiest big city in North America. It will be interesting to see how it goes this season.

On anther note, NYCO mentioned that the Snow God isn’t where she stores it each year. Lets see. The snow God is missing and so is the General from Buffalo. If the snow God happens to show up in Buffalo I think the General might be a suspect and he might want to turn himself in right now. I wonder if NYCO at http://www.twentyfour01.com/nyco/ would be willing to give up the snow God to the winning city for a season if someone ever beats Syracuse. Kind of like the awarding of the trophy and the Snow God to the winner 🙂 Nah aand I don’t blame her. We need it here.

With that all said, please wish my oldest son Good Luck as he is taking the civil service test as I type. He will be finishing up college in the near future and wants to become a police officer and needs to do good on this test. Hopefully he will be able to get into a local force and not end up leaving the Syracuse area. He’s hoping to get in the Manlius Police Dept which he really liked when he interned with them this summer. He really enjoyed the officers and other people there. Good Luck Shane! Have a Super weekend all!

Just a quick nightly add-on to this mornings post. I was wondering how Rochester and Syracuse was going to do today but unfortunately Rochesters reports haven’t been updated. When I checked the others I was totally surprised to see that Binghamton is now only 0.1 inches away from tying Buffalo at and 0.2 inches away from taking the lead over from them. As for those of us in Syracuse, only .4 inches being reported so far but that will change come tomorrow.

Enough about the snowfall for now. The big question is where has General Steve been lately?

Morning post:

The white gold has finally begun to fall from the sky in Syracuse and most likely in Rochester also. Not a whole bunch of it but who cares? It’s snowing and it’s the first snowfall of the season for those of us in the Syracuse area. I say it every year and no reason to stop now. Doesn’t it always bring out the kid in you when you see the first snowfall of the season? For some reason I have a craving for some hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. It must be a hidden memory from when I was a little kid. Ok I added the chocolate chip cookies just because they sound good right now but no doubt snow and hot chocolate go hand in hand. Hopefully by the end of the day 4 out of the 5 GSB cities will be on the snow board.

I’m looking at the radars it looks like the lake effect machines are just tuning up for the winter and it will probably be off and on for the next day or so for some of the Golden Snowball cities. Look for some official stats to be posted later once NOAA updates the totals. Right now Buffalo leads and even Binghamton is beating Syracuse and the other cities. This will be a close race throughout the snow season and I’m looking forward to having some fun with it again this year. Sort of. Well kind of. Jeesh, is it that time already???? I haven’t even gotten to the leaves yet and they are half covered now with snow. I think we all know that the snow most likely won’t be around for long and there will be a few more nice days when we all get out and rake up what’s left before the real winter weather sets in so there is no sense stressing about it. Of course my neighbors probably stress more about my yard than I do 🙂

Looking at the snow statistics above all of the GSB cities are below their average snowfall for this time into the season but that will change most likely sooner than later. Look for the Snow Oracles (Oracle is the name Sean Kirst calls me and yes it goes to my head)2007 – 2008 winter outlook and winning city predictions this weekend and have a great weekend all!

Binghamton strikes second in this years Golden Snowball contest picking up just under half an inch of snow. Yeah I know it’s not much but at least they are on the board and right behind Buffalo. Last season with Buffalo picking up so much snow in the beginning it made for a boring start to the contest. This season hopefully it will be a back and forth leader though out the winter to keep the contest interesting.

There isn’t much in the forecast snow wise other than maybe a little here and there today. Temps are expected to hit the 50’s again at the beginning of the week for a few days and then go downhill from there. The average temperature for this time of the year should be right around 50 degrees so enjoy the nice days when we get them. Their number is limited now without a doubt.

I’m off to watch the SU – USF football game. Don’t ask me why. I guess I’m just a die-hard fan no matter whether they are winning or losing. That said I’m glad the SU basketball team has finally started the 2007 – 2008 season off. It’s more fun when your team is winning. Go Syracuse and have a Great weekend everyone!

The snow chart above should be all up to date now. The thing that stands out the most is Buffalo’s totals from this season to last. They are 2 feet below last seasons obviously because of the freak October storm they had last year. Other than that all the cities except for Buffalo is behind their average snowfall for this time in the year. Of course it’s just the start of the snow season and that can change in a second.

Another stat that stands out is that Binghamton, Syracuse, Rochester and Albany are right on track to starting the season off like we all did last year. Maybe we will be lucky again this season and not have to deal with much snow until after the new year. Nah, that’s not going to happen. I think the start of the 2007 – 2008 season will end up blowing away last years start.

The last stat that stands out is that Binghamton for whatever reason has the highest average snow total for this time of year at 2.2. Something that just stands out IMO because it being the farthest south city in the contest.

I see that General Steve from Buffalo has made his predictions so I better start thinking about my predictions soon. Have a Great day all!