golden snowball contest

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Four Cities Start Off The 2019-2020 Snow Contest

Buffalo, Binghamton, Rochester, and Syracuse are all reporting their first measurable snow for the new 2019-2020 snow season. This season is starting up a little later than the 2018-2019 snow season did. Last season the Golden Snowball snow contest started on or around October 22nd. Buffalo is the defending Champ this season out snowing all of the other cities with 118.8 inches of snow last season. Buffalo also won the National Golden Snow Globe snow contest for big cities in the United States. It should be a fun, longgggg snow season ahead πŸ™‚

Buffalo is tied with Binghamton right now followed by Rochester and Syracuse. Albany hasn’t reported any snow yet today. I’m guessing that the snow totals will change by tomorrow’s update. Syracuse is the favorite at the start of each season normally followed by Rochester, then Buffalo, then Binghamton and I suppose Albany. Albany is the only city that has never won the Golden Snowball snow contest and I don’t see that changing in my lifetime. Just think out loud πŸ˜›

More Snow Next Week Maybe

I’m starting to hear some rumors about maybe some decent snow come early next week. I haven’t had a chance to read up on it yet and to be honest, it’s a little too early right now but it could be something to keep an eye on. So, the snow season is just beginning and it should be a lot of fun. It always is and all of you that visit the site and respond make it fun.

We have a FaceBook page that is pretty active during the winter months and you should check it out and join. It’s a great mix of people of all ages, both men and women, snow lovers and snow haters. You can join the snow group which is for both the New York snow contest and the National snow contest here at

For the latest snow stats click here for the Golden Snowball snow contest. Have a fun, safe winter everyone and as always, if you see snow, drive slow. Stay Safe All πŸ˜‰

Let The 2018-2019 Golden Snowball Snow Games Begin

Binghamton and Rochester both received measurable snowfall today, 10/18 with just enough snow to start up the new snow season. Way to go and I bet everyone can’t wait for the real snow to begin πŸ™‚ Current standings here!

It’s a little earlier than last season when Buffalo started up the snow season and the Golden Snowball snow contest. Last season Buffalo started up the New York snow contest on or around 10/31, Halloween, with a tenth of an inch of snow.

I’ve been reading different winter forecasts as to how this winter will shape up and I’ll have the Golden Snowball winter outlook posted sometime soon. You won’t want to miss it. Nevermind NOAA’s and the Farmers Almanac πŸ˜‰ Stay tuned and have a fun safe snowy season all πŸ˜‰

Syracuse Wins The Golden Snowball Snow Contest

Congratulations Syracuse, New York on winning the 2017-2018 Golden Snowball snow contest. Syracuse is once again the king of the snow hill taking the crown back from last seasons snow champs, Binghamton, NY. Last season Binghamton, NY out snowed Syracuse by 3 tenths of an inch πŸ™‚

This season Syracuse showed up with a total of 153.6 inches of snow to date. Syracuse beat 2nd place Rochester by over 30 inches and beat 3rd place Buffalo, NY by more than 40 inches. Keep in mind that the season doesn’t end until the last day of June so I will continue to keep track of any new snow that falls and add them to the snow totals. I’m guessing most people are ready to say enough already πŸ™‚

Buffalo started the 2017-2018 snow season off on or around 10/31/17 with 0.1 inches. Rochester took over the top spot around 11/10/17 with 1.5 inches and held on to the lead until around 11/20/17 when Syracuse slid to the top with a snow total of 5.2 inches.

The beginning of December was pretty quiet snow wise until around 12/10/17 when Buffalo regained the lead with a total of 5.9 inches.

Syracuse took the lead back on 12/12/17 and had a total of 12.4 inches. Syracuse continued to add to their lead but it was still a close snow race when we went into January. Both Buffalo and Rochester were hanging close to Syracuse but Syracuse started to pull away from all of the cities throughout January.

Syracuse never looked back after taking the lead on 12/12 and held the lead throughout the season. I didn’t realize that Syracuse held the lead that long until I just looked at the season’s snow stats. WOW! Syracuse went into February with an almost 2 foot lead over 2nd place Rochester.

March started out pretty slow but the snow started picking up around March 10th. By March 21st, Syracuse’s snow totals were at 151.1 inches and Syracuse was besting Rochester by almost 3 feet of snow. Not a whole lot of snow fell after that and that was pretty much the end of the season other than an inch here and there πŸ˜‰

It’s been a fun snow season and I think we are all ready to see some real Spring weather now. I want to say Thanks for making it a fun season and a Big Thanks to those of you who took the time to make a donation to the snow sites. I appreciated it πŸ˜‰ Like I mentioned above, if it snows I’ll be adding it to the totals and nothing is official until the end of June πŸ˜‰

Have a great Spring All! I’ll see you all in about, ummm, 4 months πŸ˜›

15 Years of Fun Keeping The Snow Stats on GoldenSnowball.com

Wow, how time really does fly and it’s 15 fun years as of January 23rd of keeping the snow stats for the Great New York Golden Snowball snow contest.Β  The snow contest has been around since the 70’s and took a break in the 90’s but it’s been rocking since it was started back up again. I really have enjoyed keeping the snow site going year after year and meeting all of the people I have met over the years online. Thanks for being a part of the snow site and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do πŸ˜‰

I will be adding a lot more to this by the way πŸ˜‰

15 Years of Fun, Fame and Fortune and Meeting People

OK, the fortune part hasn’t happened (Yet:)) but the fun, meeting hundreds of people online and even a little fame has happened. I’ve had interactions with hundreds of people online if not more over the 15 years of keeping the snow stats for the Golden Snowball snow contest. Mostly through emails that I receive, comments that people leave on the website and through our Snow Group Page on Facebook which has grown to almost 800 members. The snow group is a combination of men and women from all over the country that follow either the NY Golden Snowball contest or the National snow contest, The Golden Snow Globe. I’ve met many people online that love snow and many others that love to hate the snow. It’s all in fun and I have enjoyed the emails and comments which have been mostly good but then every now and then I’ll get some that let’s just say entertain me πŸ˜‰

Hey, I Even Enjoy Some of The Complaints πŸ˜‰

The biggest complaints that come to mind is the location of the airports and why isn’t my city or town in the snow contest. OK, yes Syracuse does have the advantage with their airport being in Canada but get over it. It is what it is and that’s what makes it even more fun when a city like Binghamton, NY is able to beat Syracuse like Binghamton did last season. I think it was by 2 tenths of an inch. That was fun and what it’s all about. We know that Syracuse is the snowiest Big city in the United States but at the beginning of the season, I guarantee that there isn’t person on the planet that can say for certainty that Syracuse is going to win the New York snow contest or the National snow contest and I love that part of it πŸ˜‰ Anyways, keep the emails and comments coming and feel free to join our snow group on Facebook. It’s a fun group πŸ™‚

As for why your city isn’t in the snow contest there are two reasons. When I started up the website to keep track of the snow stats I kept the 5 original cities that have been in the snow contest. I talked to several people and the cities were Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. Would I have a problem adding another city to the snow contest such as Utica? Probably not but as of right now Utica as far as I know doesn’t have an officially certified measuring station by the National Weather Service that I am aware of. There are other cities that are in the same situation. I did try to start up a smaller city snow contest several years back but I just couldn’t come up with any snow stats or if I did they were being reported maybe once a month. It didn’t work out.

How Goldensnowball Got Started 15 Years Ago

I started up the Golden Snowball website back on Jan. 23rd, 2003 after coming across and readingΒ an article about the snow contest that was written by Sean Kirst thatΒ he wrote back in 2001.Β  This is the article by Sean that has been updated since.Β Β WHILE BUFFALO GETS THE PRESS, SYRACUSE GETS THE SNOW. There is no doubt that Sean Kirst is the biggest reason the snow contest took off again and it’s been fun over the years talking to him about it from time to time:) It’s always fun when the phone rings and it’s Sean on the other end. That’s what the snow contest has been to me and hopefully all of you, just fun while passing the winter months away.

I started to research what the snow contest was about, what cities were in it back in the 1970’s, why it stopped and so on. I became fascinated with some of what I was coming up with while researching the snow contest and made a few calls. I figured the main person to call was one of the originators of the Golden Snowball snow contest back in the 70’s, Peter Chaston. I was lucky enough and I was able to track down Peter Chaston at a company he had out of state. Steve McLaughlin and another meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Buffalo Tom Niziol, also played a big part in getting the Golden Snowball contest resurrected again. You can read more about the origins of the Golden Snowball snow contest here on The About The Snow Contest Page.

The Local and National Played a Big Part in The Golden Snowball Contest

The media has been kind to our MY snow contest and also to the website. Sean Kirst has been the biggest reason for the Golden Snowball contest growing and also helping get the website noticed over the years. He has written many articles about the snow contest that people didn’t have a clue about including myself 15 years ago. There are many other journalists, meteorologists, news stations, etc that have played a big part over the years on bringing the snow contests and snow sites to the attention of people. Both local and National.

I’ve done many interviews over the years and believe me, I don’t do them well especially the live interviews. A few live interviews that come to mind are a couple that I did with Bob Joseph, Host Binghamton Now News Radio 1290 WNBF. I had fun but I’m sure I bored his audience to death πŸ˜‰ Another one was with Stephanie Abrams and Mike Bettes the 1st week that their show started on the Weather Channel. Like I said, I don’t do live TV to well and I could hear one of my kids and my mother laughing in the background while I was doing the interview and said snowmans instead of snowmen. Yeah, it went downhill from there. Another one that I believe was live was with Tom Niziol from the Weather Channel a couple of years back. I had fun with that interview because Tom knows just as much about snow and lake effect as probably anyone else living. I tried to turn the interview on him during our sound check but Tom didn’t budge. That was fun.

Hanging With Sean Kirst, Dennis Nett, and Meeting Mayor Miner

One of my favorite interviews was hanging with Sean Kirst for a couple of hours downtown along with photographer Dennis Nett who were both with the Post Standard at the time. It was my Birthday and I went out the night before to celebrate with some family and friends. Needless to say, I could have felt a little better for that interview. Sean never really let me know exactly what was going to be going on but told me to meet him at the Post Standard which I did. That was cool in itself because Sean gave me the grand tour along with introducing me to Dick Case, his Editor, and several other Post Standard journalists as we waited for Dennis to show up. Dennis shows up and out we go into the cold with a ton of snow because it snowed a lot the night before πŸ™‚

The first stop was the Mayor’s office where the Golden Snowball trophy was on a shelf just outside the Mayor’s office. I can’t remember if he had it planned ahead of time to take the trophy or if he talked the Mayor’s secretary into letting him/us take the trophy for a walk downtown. Either way, out the door we went with me holding the Golden Snowball trophy. The only reason I was holding the trophy was that Sean and Dennis were too afraid to hold it and made me. If you have ever seen the trophy, it is beautiful and has a glass ball filled with flecks of gold that sits loosely on top of the trophy. So here I am, walking down the slippery fresh covered sidewalks and roads carrying the trophy thinking about one thing and one thing only, don’t slip, drop it and break it. I tried several times to pass it off but to no avail. I was thinking of what Sean’s story was going to be the next day. The Oracle of the Golden Snowball drops trophy and breaks it. Luckily that never happened and Dennis got some really great pictures that day. My favorite was the picture below.

Picture of Golden Snowball Trophy in Snow

On our way back to return the trophy we ran into Mayor Miner on the steps as she was coming back from assessing all of the snow that fell, how the weight on the roofs of some of the buildings were and seeing what needed to be done. She graciously posed with the trophy and it was nice meeting her. She agreed that Syracuse should embrace the snow we receive and find a way to celebrate it and use it to the city’s advantage.

Yes, I am rambling on and will try to wrap this up. The day ended with Sean surprising me with an on-camera interview. Something they just started doing at the Post Standard and Syracuse.com and something that I really hate, being in front of a camera. It was Sean Kirst so of course, I agreed to do it and luckily he carried the whole conversation as I kind of just sat back and listen. That really was a fun day though and one of many memories of keeping track of the Golden Snowball the last 15 years.

I have so many memories that I could go on for days but I will spare ya’s πŸ˜‰ This site is all about one thing and that is trying to pass a little fun along as a lot of us wait for the warmer months to arrive.

The Golden Snowball snow contest and the site still lives on because of 2 reasons. All of you who visit the website and hopefully enjoy it and also because of the folks in the news media that pass it along to their readers. Thanks to all of you and Cheers to another 15 years.

Have a Great night all and Thanks for the memories πŸ™‚

First off as always, a Big Thanks to Kathleen O. for your recent donation. I really appreciate you taking the time Kathleen and also the kind words. Thank You πŸ™‚

Syracuse, NY Snows Into The Lead in Golden Snowball Snow Contest

Congrats to Syracuse on slipping past Buffalo and Rochester the last couple of days. All of the cities were pretty far behind what their normal average snowfall should be for this time in the season.

Syracuse broke a date snow record for today already with 8.8 inches of snow being reported so far beating the old record of 5.9 inches which goes back to 1951. That was enough snow to put Syracuse in the lead in the National Golden Snow Globe snow contest also. Erie, PA was winning the National snow contest which is for the bigger cities with a population of 100,000 or more as of the 2010 census. You can check out the Top 25 snowiest Big cities in the United States at www.goldensnowglobe.com.

I think we are going to see a lot of lead changes this snow season and it looks like Buffalo is ready to join in the snowball fights this season. Buffalo is way overdue to have a decent snow season and it should be a fun one at that πŸ™‚

Have a Great Night All and Be Safe On The Roads πŸ™‚

Rochester Slips Past Buffalo, Leads Snow Contest

Updated 12/11 7 PM – First off as always I just want to give a big Thanks to Faye H. for your recent donation and the first one of the season. Thanks for also pointing out something that I needed to change on the site. I appreciate you taking the time Faye πŸ™‚
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It was a short visit to the top of the Golden Snowball contest for Buffalo. Buffalo knocked Syracuse out of first place yesterday and today it’s Rochester’s turn to knock Buffalo out of the top spot. As of this last update, Rochester leads the Golden Snowball snow contest. WTG Roc πŸ™‚

Buffalo slid down to second place but is only 3 tenths of an inch behind Rochester. Syracuse dropped all the way down to the number 3 spot on the snow hill. The good news is, we will probably be seeing more changes in the next few days because I’m seeing a lot of reports of maybe a lot of snow which should be starting pretty soon if it hasn’t already in some of the cities. Stay safe and of course check with your local weather pros for the latest watches, warnings and forecasts.

Have a great night all πŸ™‚
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Buffalo Leads Golden Snowball Snow Contest

I had a feeling that after watching the snowy Buffalo Bills game against the Indianapolis Colts that Buffalo was going to snow ahead of Syracuse in the New York Golden Snowball snow contest and they did. Buffalo also won the game playing in the snow which was fun to watch. WTG Buffalo πŸ™‚

Buffalo leads Syracuse by 0.6 of an inch as of this last update and I’m guessing they will probably be adding more snow to their lead when the next update comes out tomorrow. Albany was in a tie with Rochester as of yesterdays snow stats but Rochester wasn’t having any of that and got enough snow to hold on to the 3rd place spot on the snow hill by themselves.

Last Seasons Snow Champs and Snowy Season

Binghamton which is the defending snow champs from last season, the 2016-2017 snow season is in dead last right now. It has to be lonely at the bottom of the Golden Snowball hill πŸ™‚ Binghamton had an awesome snow season last season and broke a ton of snow records for the city including the hardest to break, their highest seasonal snowfall totals on record. Right now Binghamton has 2.1 inches of snow compared to 40.3 inches on this date last season. What a difference a season makes but it’s still early.

Last season at this time in Binghamton was leading the Golden Snowball snow contest and Buffalo was in last place. The total opposite this season and you know what that means. OK, I don’t have a clue what that means but I do know it should be a fun snow season ahead and it’s only just begun.

Have a Great Night All πŸ™‚