I caught the first one which was based on winter weather, measuring snow, reporting it and a lot of great information. This one will cover the basics of thunderstorms, tornadoes, and flooding while training you on how to report severe weather to the National Weather Service. Very informative to say the least. The best part is it’s free to the public so check it out if you’re not doing anything tonight. More info at:

http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=751241 and at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/skywarn/

The New Snow Champion Of The Golden Snowball Contest

Congratulations Rochester, New York

With less than 2 days left in the great snow race Rochester holds a big enough lead and is dug in deep enough on top of the snow hill that no city will be able to reach them by the end of June 30th.  Now the question is what’s next other than come May 1st declaring Rochester the snow champions for the 2011 – 2012 season.

The question that comes to my mind is how will the city of Syracuse transfer the trophy over to Rochester.  Maybe the Mayor will take a limo and deliver it personally?  Maybe they will just ship it to them through the mail?  In my opinion it would be pretty cool to have a convoy of salt trucks and snow plows driving down the highway with the mayor following in a limo.  Of course it would be nice if the mayor would ask me to join her   Throw in a marching band from one of the city’s schools and hey, it’s a party now.  After all they did most likely save hundreds of thousands of dollars this winter.

These are a few of my suggestions.  How do you think the city of Syracuse should pass the trophy along?

The first one is the PBR forecast from way back in early March. That one called for less than 2 inches of snow for March 9 and 10. If all five had less than 2 inches, it’s a Bull’s Eye. A majority in range would be On Target. Here are the two day totals for the five cities:

Albany: 0.3
Binghamton: 1.0
Buffalo: 0.3
Rochester: 0.5
Syracuse: 4.0

Syracuse was the only one over 2 inches of snow for that time period, so it is an On Target forecast.

Up next is the SITD for the month of March. In that, I was expecting more days with highs of 60 or higher than days with an inch or more. All five would be Bull’s Eye while a majority would have been On Target. Here are the total number of days over 60:

Albany: 11
Binghamton: 16
Buffalo: 15
Rochester: 18
Syracuse: 16

And here are the total number of days with more than an inch of snow:

Albany: 1
Binghamton: 1
Buffalo: 0
Rochester: 2
Syracuse: 4

This is a Bull’s Eye and it wasn’t close at all. At the time I made the forecast, it seemed like a gutsy pick. But the second half of the month is what brought about the big difference.

So with those all set, here is the final results for the season:

The 1.19 average is well above the 1.00 goal set at the beginning of the year! It was the Shot In The Dark forecasts that pushed me over the top, accounting for over 63% of the total. So, for next season will be pushed up to that 1.19 mark. One place for improvement is definitely the Point Blank Range forecasts as I only earned 7 points in 8 predictions.

Enjoy the offseason everyone!

Remember it’s not over til the fat man sings and I’m not singing yet.  I do have a pretty good humming going on right now though

Update 4/23 12:30 pm - No new stats to report from NOAA (the National Weather Service) yet.  Just a trace for a couple of the cities as of yesterday.  They will come out a little bit later this afternoon and I’ll update them when NOAA has an update.  Here in Syracuse or at least around my house nothing to report.  Any ideas on snow in Buffalo, Rochester and Maybe Bingo?  Stay tuned

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With just about 7 days left before the contest ends Rochester might have to worry about this storm that is suppose to hit in the wee hours and go into perhaps Tuesday.  Stop the parade!

So far from what I have been watching Buffalo is looking to gain the most out of this storm.  Depending on how you look at it that is.  The higher elevations should be getting a good dumping of (unfortunetly) the wet heavy white gold.  Chances are Rochester will get enough themselves to hold off this late season charge but it should be interesting.  Syracuse from what I’m hearing anyways, is suppose to get mainly rain and a lot of it. Let’s just hope there isn’t a mess with trees down and power outages.  If you have time drop us a comment as to how things are going in your neck of the woods

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Shameless Shopping Site Plug – if you buy your personal checks from your bank you may be able to get them cheaper online.  I do and save around 50% off what my bank charges.  I have a site up that has several of the top checking companies on it for both personal checks and business checks.  Companies like checks unlimited, checks in the mail and 4checks.  Hundreds of themes to choose from including flowers, breast cancer awareness checks, lots of college and pro team logo checks and more.  Click here for Cheap Checks online and thanks.

Have a GREAT week all and take it easy on the roads,  See Snow – Drive Slow!

Last season, Syracuse finished with 179 inches, 4th place since 1951-52. As of right now, this season ranks as Syracuse’s least snowiest in that span. Talk about extremes! But…there is another with similar differences…exactly 10 years ago.

In the 2000-01 season, 191.9 inches fell in the Syracuse area, 2nd place since 1951-52 by 0.2. As for 2001-02? It’s the current least snowiest season in Syracuse during the airport era with 59.4.

With both cases, a season of extreme high snowfall was followed by extreme low snowfall. Could this be true for other GSB cities as well? Well…mostly.

Take Albany, for instance. Last season was extreme, finishing 9th. This season currently ranks 2nd to last. The 2000-01 wasn’t met with such an extreme high, at 14th place, and 2001-02 wasn’t such an extreme low, coming in at 45th. Still, it is a fairly extreme high followed by a fairly extreme low.

What about Binghamton? 2010-11 was 6th and 2011-12 is currently last. 2000-01 is 11th…and 2001-02 is 9th least snowiest. Extreme highs and extreme lows.

Buffalo breaks the mold. 2000-01 was their 2nd snowiest since 51-52 while 2001-02 comes in at 6th. By the way, that season was the last time Syracuse was not the champion.

Rochester puts the mold back together a little bit. This season is their 3rd least snowiest season while last season their 12th snowiest season. 2000-01 was Rochester’s 7th snowiest season and was followed by what’s currently their 4th least snowiest season. Once again, extreme highs…extreme lows.

All rankings are since 1951-52.

So, is it just coincidence…or is it something else?

When the time does come no doubt the word concede is the perfect word to use.  Definition of concede – The word concede to Admit that something is true or valid after first denying or resisting it.

I think reality is setting in for those of us in the Syracuse area.  Hope for a strong comeback slowly fading away now with each day that passes by.  After nine seasons, the chance of the Golden Snowball trophy staying where it’s been, just outside of the Mayors office on a shelf will soon be heading west.  West to Rochester, New York which will be the first time since the resurrection of the golden snowball contest began About 10 years ago.

Although the hope is fading for repeat snow champions Syracuse we’re just not quite ready to concede just yet   It will be interesting to see how the city of Syracuse presents the trophy to Rochester if they do hold on for the victory.  Any thoughts or suggestions to pass along to the Mayors office?

Shameless Plug – I’m still pushing my pet products sites which should have just about anything you may be looking for. Cat and dog food, dog houses, pet meds, toys, leashes and collars, travel cages and more.  Feel free to check it out at Pets Supply Stores and thanks

Have a Happy Easter All…

I started thinking that hey, we aren’t going down at least not without a snowball fight to keep the trophy here in Syracuse.  So I did it.  OK, so I confess!  I did a snow dance  I did one last LITTLE snow dance geared at getting some cold air back into CNY.  OK, not CNY but into Syracuse and I even tried to get it to just hit the airport.  That way if it works I wouldn’t get a lot of hate mail and have the neighbors turn against me and start throwing snowballs at the house   I really do have a neighbor who blames me and the contest every time it snows.

Anyways it looks like there is a chance for some snow come sometime Friday night & Early Saturday.  From reading around right now it doesn’t look like it will be much snow and sounds like it will be to the south.  This may give Binghamton a chance to gain a little ground on the snow hill.  It could get interesting if something changes and this Storm system gets a little stronger.

Hey it is still March folks and it’s not over until the fat man sings and I’m not singing yet

Have a Super Snowy Weekend All

Happy Spring all!!!  Normally I would say something like Hello Spring – Goodbye Winter but it just doesn’t seem right this year does it?  It’s hard to say goodbye to something that never showed up in the first place.  The sound of Spring does sound pretty good though and it will be interesting to see if we can stay on whatever pattern we are on right now.  The one that’s brought us unbelievable weather throughout the winter months and has set records all over the charts.  Not the good kind of records that those who snomobiler’s, ice fishermen or ski resorts like but the kind that those who hate winter love.

Rochester continues to lead the contest but I’m not throwing in the shovel just yet.  It is looking pretty good for The Rock but with a winter like we just had, a snow season that I can not remember ever having who knows what spring wil throw at us.  Right now it’s some nice sunny 70 – 80 degree days which is hard for even us snow lovers not to appreciate.  Stay Tuned!

Here are a couple of good articles.  One about this being the earliest vernal equinox, spring since 1896  and another from Syracuse .com’s John Mariani about the winter that never was.

Have a Great week all and enjoy the sunshine

Yesterday was a pretty good snow day and night where I live, just outside of the city.  It cam down pretty good  off and on and last night the winds came through along with the snow and made it look like it was winter.  Unfortunately it doesn’t look like that’s going to last too long with warmer weather in the forecast for the next several days   This season is going down to the last snowflake that falls and Rochester is still looking pretty good right now.

I have a feeling that it’s going to end up kind of like last nights SU basketball game.  Syracuse was behind pretty much the whole game but started an awesome comeback.  The only problem was they came up just a little short before time ran out.  Well time is running out for Syracuse and the rest of the cities in the Golden Snowball contest and it just may be an upset when the buzzer rings come the last second of April.  Being a big SU fan though, I never give up until the buzzer rings.

Shameless Plug Time – I’ve been getting quite a few sales from my Pets products site the last few weeks since I put it up.  I’m not sure if the prices online are good or not or if it’s because there are a lot of good products like cat and dog food, dog houses, pet products for horses and so on.  Anyways if you have a pet and buy online check it out at Pets Products Online and thanks

Have a GREAT Weekend All