snowiest us city

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Buffalo October Surprise – Freak Snow Storm 2006

I wanted to share a cool video of the October Surprise snowstorm that hit Buffalo 10 years ago. Steven Madsen, aka the General from Buffalo, put this together several years back and we posted it back then too. I’ve been trying to find some posts that we made on the Golden Snowball site 10 years ago but that was right about the time that we switched over to a new design. All I could find was a post from the 13th and 14th back in 2006 which is also below.

National Snow Contest Started

I also wanted to let everyone know that the National snow contest over at Golden Snow Globe started up yesterday. Billings, Montana is the first Big city with measurable snow so far for the 2016-2017 snow season. You can check out the snowiest Big city in the United States here!

Video and Pictures (pics coming soon) From Steven Madsen

Golden Snowball Posts About Buffalo Storm 10 Years Ago

A blast from the past. Below is all I could find, unfortunately, that I posted on the snow site about the Buffalo October snow storm 🙁

10/13/06 – Let the golden snowball contest begin. Buffalo struck first breaking a record for measurable snow this early in the season with 8.6 inches on Thursday and breaking the all-time record of 6 inches dating back to Oct 31st, 1917. Way to early to be getting pounded with snow. Something isn’t right when I can use the word pounded this early in the season. Unfortunately with the lakes temp being around 60 degrees the cold front that is bringing on the Lake Effect Snow (LES) is producing heavy wet snow that has brought down a lot of trees. Over 155,000 are without power and some reporting up to 300,000 without power, schools are closed and so on.

All I can say is after the dismal snow season Buffalo had last year, they are off to a good start this year. Hopefully everyone is OK and hopefully, they get the power back and things back to normal soon. Remember “See Snow – Drive Slow”. Have a Safe Snow Season All and Let The Contest Begin! I’m off to see if my foursome still plans on golfing today.

10/14 – Talk about getting a jump on the contest this year. Buffalo is leading by almost 2 feet of snow. After Fridays record snow totals of 14 inches, they are well on their way to dethroning the champions, Syracuse. Buffalo’s total snowfall so far this season stands at 22.6 inches. Hello, it’s October, not January. Now we have to wonder if any more measurable snow will fall anytime soon. Nothing as freaky as what hit Buffalo this week I’d bet on.

Let’s not forget Rochester. They also struck early setting their record that dated back to 1874. Their total stands at 0.4 inches. Lake effect snow has never ceased to amaze me. How one city can get close to 2 feet of snow and another city just down the road gets less than an inch. I suppose that’s what makes the Golden Snowball contest so unpredictable.

Looking at this year and last years start of the season I don’t know which is freakier. Buffalo getting the first snowfall of 22.6 inches in October to start the contest. Or last year when it was Albany who started the contest and was winning for a brief period. Stay tuned for the next snow update which should be in about a month. Lets hope anyways. Have a great weekend all!

Some Good Articles About the Snow Storm at Buffalo News
* 50,000 Trees Lost From October Snow Storm
* Remembering the 2006 Buffalo Snow Storm
* TJ Pignatara – Can it Happen Again

Congratulations Syracuse on Winning the 2014-2015 Golden Snowball Award 🙂

It’s a wrap! Syracuse, New York has won this season’s Golden Snowball Award barely beating out Buffalo, NY by only 6.8 inches of snow. Not quite as close as last season when Syracuse won the contest by only 2.1 inches of snow. With all of that epic snowfall that fell around the Buffalo area back in November but missed the airport, I have to admit this probably should have been Buffalo’s season at the top.

I’m always nervous about making the “It’s a Wrap” post because as most of you all know it’s not unusual for most of the cities to get some snow in May. I do feel more confident though after reading around about average or above average temperatures to take over in the long term forecast. Let’s just say I feel more confident calling it this season than I did last season.

Syracuse long term forecast

Long term forecast for Buffalo

April 30th is the date that the city of Syracuse decided to go with which is a lot better than what they originally wanted which was April 1st. Let’s hope Mother Nature doesn’t have a whole lot of Freaky weather planned for May.

A Summary of the 2014-2015 Golden Snowball Snow Season

Buffalo held the lead for a good part of the snow season, but Syracuse managed to take over the lead from Buffalo around 2/22/15. Below is a look at how some of this seasons snow season went.

Start of This Snow Season – Snowfall Totals Updated 11/8/2014

* Around 11/8/2014 Binghamton was in first place and was the city that started off the 2014 – 2015 snow season for the Golden Snowball Award with 0.2 inches of snowfall. WTG Binghamton 🙂

Binghamton 0.2 1.8 Trace 83.4 134.0 inches (1995 – 1996)
Buffalo Trace 2.0 Trace 94.7 199.4 inches (1976 – 1977)
Rochester Trace 1.1 0.2 99.5 161.7 inches (1959 – 1960)
Syracuse Trace 1.6 0.2 123.8 192.1 inches (1992 – 1993)
Albany Trace 0.3 Trace 59.1 112.5 inches (1970 – 1971)

Syracuse Takes The Snow Lead

* Syracuse took the lead over on or around 11/14/2014 with 2.9 inches of snow and held the lead until around 11/17 Our current leader, Buffalo was in last place at the time.

Syracuse 2.2 2.9 0.4 123.8 192.1 inches (1992 – 1993)
Binghamton 1.3 2.7 2.0 83.4 134.0 inches (1995 – 1996)
Buffalo 0.2 3.3 0.7 94.7 199.4 inches (1976 – 1977)
Rochester 0.2 2.2 1.8 99.5 161.7 inches (1959 – 1960)
Albany 0.1 0.7 Trace 59.1 112.5 inches (1970 – 1971)

Buffalo Takes The Lead From Syracuse

* Buffalo took the lead from Syracuse the following day on or around 11/18/2014 and Rochester also passed Syracuse and jumped into 2nd place.

Buffalo 4.0 4.3 0.7 94.7 199.4 inches (1976 – 1977)
Rochester 3.2 3.1 1.8 99.5 161.7 inches (1959 – 1960)
Syracuse 2.9 4.0 0.4 123.8 192.1 inches (1992 – 1993)
Binghamton 2.9 3.4 2.0 83.4 134.0 inches (1995 – 1996)
Albany 1.0 1.0 Trace 59.1 112.5 inches (1970 – 1971)

Buffalo and Syracuse Tie for 1st, Buffalo Still at Top

* On January 7th or 8th Buffalo and Syracuse were tied for 1st place in the snow contest with 34.0 inches each.

Buffalo 34.0 42.7 55.3 94.7 199.4 inches (1976 – 1977)
Syracuse 34.0 49.9 51.9 123.8 192.1 inches (1992 – 1993)
Binghamton 31.6 29.5 46.0 83.4 134.0 inches (1995 – 1996)
Rochester 29.8 35.3 48.0 99.5 161.7 inches (1959 – 1960)
Albany 26.6 20.4 31.6 59.1 112.5 inches (1970 – 1971)

Syracuse Takes The Lead and Top of Snow Hill for Good

* Right around 2/22/15 Syracuse picked up enough snow to slip past Buffalo for the rest of the snow season. Buffalo never gave up and kept it close right til the end.



Syracuse 101.3 96.8 100.0 123.8 192.1 inches (1992 – 1993)
Buffalo 101.1 75.4 97.7 94.7 199.4 inches (1976 – 1977)
Rochester 85.1 74.4 78.6 99.5 161.7 inches (1959 – 1960)
Binghamton 75.5 60.2 81.8 83.4 134.0 inches (1995 – 1996)
Albany 70.6 44.0 64.8 59.1 112.5 inches (1970 – 1971)

The Season Wraps up With Syracuse on Top – CONGRATS ‘CUSE

* Hopefully the snow is done falling and the warm weather is here for good. If by chance Buffalo was to slip ahead with some freaky May weather I will get in touch with the Mayor of Syracuse and I am sure she would be more than happy to start up the snow contest again and give the award to Buffalo 😉


Syracuse 119.7 123.7 132.0 123.8 192.1 inches (1992 – 1993)
Buffalo 112.9 94.4 129.9 94.7 199.4 inches (1976 – 1977)
Rochester 101.9 99.1 112.7 99.5 161.7 inches (1959 – 1960)
Binghamton 93.4 83.3 85.4 83.4 134.0 inches (1995 – 1996)
Albany 75.9 59.0 73.5 59.1 112.5 inches (1970 – 1971)




Feel Free to Buy Us a Cold One for The Hot Summer Ahead 😉

Have a Great Spring and Summer Everyone and I’ll See You in a Couple of Months 😉

Your input needed – I’m curious if the same conversations go on about snow in your cities that go on here in the Syracuse area.  Mainly Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester.  The argument every year is that is it good to brag about all of the snow we all get or to just keep quiet about it and hope that people don’t see the 4 – 5 foot snowbanks at times when they visit the area.  Is this the same conversation in your city about the snowfall you get?  Don’t brag about our snow.

Feel free to chime in here or at Sean Kirst’s place on the web. Sean, who is a great journalist for the Post Standard and Syracuse.com had a good article in the paper the other day.  It’s about a gentleman from the Syracuse area, Russ Andrews who has been saying that he doen’t think it’s smart bragging or promoting our cities as being one of the snowiest bigger cities in the country on average and even in all of North America.  Russ feels it hurts the city having that kind of reputation.  Keep in mind that Russ Andrews is just making a fun spirited argument and shouldn’t be seen as a bad guy 😉  You can read the article at http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2013/02/amid_winterfest_russ_andrews_a.html

Sean and I have seen eye to eye on this since we first met and we both believe we should be promoting the Hell out of the snow our cities get.  Let me also add that Sean is the main reason that the Golden Snowball contest was revived to what it is today with his articles, conversations about the snow and so on.

Sean, like myself vision drawing people to the area because of the amount of snow we normally receive each winter season.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, It snows here in Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester and no matter how hard some of the people in Syracuse want to hide it by shoveling it under the curbs it’s not going to work.

What needs to be done in my opinion is to bring the snow lovers from out of town into town because of the high amounts of snow we receive.  Open up some of our state owned land in the area for snowmobilers, find a place where skiers can ski in the area besides the nearby ski slopes that we already have.  Open up the state fair grounds for the snowmobilers and try to bring in the top sledders around the country for either races or the extreme sports shows.  Make Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester a stop on their tour every year.  Open the roadways (some of them)  for a weekend and let the sledders use them.  I miss the days when all you heard during a good storm were sleds cruising up and down the streets.

There is so much country side land around all of the Golden Snowball cities that it wouldn’t be hard to promote cross country skiing.  Look at all of the lakes around central and upstate New York that would be perfect to draw in people to take advantage of the frozen lakes for ice fishing.  Have a couple fishing tournaments to draw out of towners to visit our areas.  Fill the hotels with fun filled winter sporting events.  Come up with something fun and different each weekend for the snow lovers to draw them to the area.  Open up some of the bigger hills for the kids to go sledding on.

I was reading a few years back about how well Quebec City does with their annual winter carnival they have.  I think the last I looked they were drawing almost a million people to their area each year including a lot of out of towners including snow enthusiast’s from the United States.  No doubt it’s a big investment, I think it was over a million dollars spent on the event but they are bringing in millions of dollars to their local businesses on that investment.  Sure it would take a few years to get it going as good as Quebec city does with their winter carnival but in the long run if done right it would be well worth it.

Do people from other states really like snow though.  I just looked at my visitor stats from the National Snow contest to see how many visitors were coming to the site.  In the last 30 days goldensnowglobe.com had over 40,000 visitors from pretty much every state in the country.  So I would have to say that yes, people from all over like snow.  Build and they will come 😉

Have an awesome weekend all and make sure you check out Sean’s latest article at http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2013/02/amid_winterfest_russ_andrews_a.html and don’t be too hard on Russ 😉