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Let The 2009 – 2010 Snow Games Begin

Posted by The Snowman on October 15, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized.

Binghamton has finally woken me from hibernating in my summer cave. Like it or not it’s time to kick off the 2009 – 2010 Golden Snowball contest.

Getting off track as normal – I’m sitting here typing I was just thinking that we should have some kind of running with the torch like the Olympics do. Maybe start it off in Buffalo and keep coming east to Rochester, then head down to Binghamton, up to Albany and then finish off the run at the winning city, Syracuse 🙂 I’m sure Sean Kirst could probably do the Albany to Syracuse run by himself 🙂 Maybe it’s time for the Golden Snowball Tour De CNY Race! Hey, it’s just a thought.

Binghamton starts the contest off for the second year in a row (I think) with.2 inches of snow so far. Way to go Bingo!!! Ummm, a little early though don’t ya think? Last season they started up the snow contest around October 27th.

I suppose with the cold, rainy weather we have been having it might as well be snowing out. I’m sure we will still be able to sneak some nice warm, sunny days in before we really get into the thick of it. The thick of the white gold that is 🙂

A shout out to ZR800 and Buffalo because they actually were the first to see some snow falling. Unfortunately it just added up to a trace. I have a feeling ZR probably has his sled tuned up already and is just waiting.

There should be a little bit of news coming in the next day or two or three about something in the works so keep checking back.

Enough for now and Good Luck to All the Golden Snowball Cities and remember, it’s all in fun. Do ya have what it takes to beat DaCuse?

Syracuse Wins The 2008 – 2009 Golden Snowball Award

Posted by The Snowman on May 1, 2009
Posted in: Golden Snowball.
CONGRATS SYRACUSE
Winner of the 2008 – 2009 Golden Snowball Award
It’s finally official and after a blowout season it’s time to say those 3 words. It’s a Wrap! Time to put this seasons contest in the books and way behind us. Congratulations Syracuse for winning the 2008 – 2009 golden snowball award with a respectable 149.6 inches of snow on the season! Should we cheer for another 4/10 of an inch to make it an even 150 inches of snowfall? I don’t think so now that we have all gotten a taste of the nice spring weather we have been having.
The 2008 – 2009 Snow Season Summary

October – Binghamton started the 2008 – 2009 snow season out with the first snowfall right at the end of October with just under 3 inches to hold the first lead.
November – Bingo managed to hold the lead for a good part of November but then reality set in and Rochester bumped them out of first right around Nov. 20 – 21. Rochester’s lead was pretty short lived though as Syracuse took over the King of The Snow Hill by November 22nd. Binghamton and Rochester sledded back and forth in the second place slot and both were pretty close to Syracuse all through November. Buffalo was still tuning up their snow making machine hoping it would be able to crank out enough snow this season to topple the now 6 repeat champion Syracuse.
December – December started off with Syracuse holding just an inch lead over Binghamton followed by Rochester, Buffalo and Albany. I think the biggest surprise for me was that Binghamton was able to hold on to second place all the way up until around December 17th when Rochester bumped them down to third place and then eventually Buffalo bumped them down to the number 4 spot where they would remain for the rest of the snow season. So much for my long shot pick 🙁
By the end of December Buffalo finally had it’s snow machine, Lake Erie cranking and managed to slip by Rochester for second place right around the 26th – 27th. The only problem was that Syracuse was having one heck of a snowy December and was pulling away. By December 23rd, just a day or so after winter started Syracuse was already had half of their normal snow totals for the season.
I think the big news for December was Rochester had a record snowfall of 46.2 inches for the month of December, Syracuse received 57 inches of snow for it’s 3rd snowiest December ever and the ice storm that hit several states with over 1,000,000 people without power including a lot in the Albany area.
January – Syracuse continued to hold a solid first place and also continued to add to their lead. Buffalo and Rochester in my opinion, at least at the time were still in the Golden Snowball race. Hey, winter just really began and we still had February and March left. Yeah! We’ll get to March in a bit!
By about half way through January some of us in the Syracuse area were thinking maybe this was the season that the long sought after 200 inch mark could be accomplished. Syracuse getting closer to their annual snowfall with still a lot of winter to go. Buffalo managed to sneak past Rochester once again around Jan 19th and the battle for second place would go back and forth. In the mean time I think we were all starting to realize that it was looking like a 6 peat for Syracuse since the Golden Snowball contest was restarted up again. Still a lot of time left but Syracuse was pulling away and by the end of January had more than a 3 foot lead over second place. Things weren’t looking good for Rochester or Buffalo.
I think the biggest news for January was that by the end of the month Syracuse already hit their annual snowfall totals which we updated here at goldensnowball.com to 121.1..
February – Same Ole, Same Ole! The battle for second place slid back and forth between Rochester and Buffalo and Syracuse continued to build on their lead. It came down to still being hopeful that Buffalo and Rochester would find a way to close the gap between them and Syracuse but as February slowly slipped by it was pretty much over. The New York snow contest for the 2008 – 2009 season was starting to be a blowout. What a difference a season makes as we think back to how close it was last season.
All in all February wasn’t a bad month for snow. By the end of February Syracuse had a lead of almost 50 inches of snow. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which means *cough* Cough* another 6 weeks of winter which brings us into March.
March – Enough Said 🙂 Punxsutawney Phil Who?
At least that some of us have been having nice weather.
Last I knew Redfield still had snow on the ground but it could be gone after this last batch of hot weather and rain. I was reading an article by Michelle Breidenbach in the Post Standard about Redfield and Carol Yerdon who measures the snow in Redfield, NY a week or so ago, put the paper down and went and cut the grass. So far I’ve had to cut the lawn 3 times and there is no doubt in my mind that one of the best scents in the world is that first smell of fresh cut grass. Rates right up there with the smell of chocolate cookies in the oven 😉 Anyways, for those of you missing winter already check out the article at http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/anyone_who_thinks_they_got.html

Bring Back the Snow or at Least Spring Temps

Posted by The Snowman on April 25, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized.

What a nice stretch we have had up until the last couple of HOT days 😉 While a lot of people get away for the winter months I’m trying to figure a good place to go for the Summer months. For some reason I have a feeling this is going to be a hot, hot summer ahead of us so I figure I’ll start my whining today about how HOT it is 😉

Only a handful of days left before the 2008 – 2009 Golden Snowball contest goes down in the books so look for the announcement once May starts.. Of course we all know that it could have been called a lot sooner but I’m going with the comments and emails I received and we’ll stick with the May 1st date.

Records are most likely being set in a coupe of the GSB cities and I saw the temp was 86 at Hancock airport here in Syracuse which I believe breaks the old record of 84 – 85? Enjoy the nice weather all and have a Super Weekend!

T-Shirt, Jacket, Coat?

Posted by The Snowman on April 7, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized.

Lets see? Wear a T-shirt out one day then a jacket, then a t-shirt and today the winter coat. I sure hope that wasn’t our Spring that lasted a few days. Once again the snow is in the air after a nice 60 something degree day not too long ago. Light jackets, sweatshirts and winter coats are all laying around the house. Unfortunately it’s still a little too early to put away the winter coats as today has proved but we all know somewhere, soon the steady more consistent days of warm weather will be here to stay. Won’t they??? Sure they will and as much as I like the snow I’m ready for the 60 degree sunny days to come.

No doubt this season is in the bag for Syracuse and it’s just a matter of hitting the call date which is May 1st. I know that seems kind of ridiculous of a date to end the contest each year but lets face it. It snows in April and if it’s a close contest like it was last year every inch would matter. That’s not a factor this season though. March fizzled out big time and I think it was the least snowiest on record or at least one of them most likely for all the GSB cities.

So here is a question for all of you that visit here. Would it be a good idea to maybe call the contest around April 1st if lets say a city has something like a 20 inch lead over the second place city? Example would be how this season went with Syracuse having a lead that is pretty much impossible to overcome even if a couple of freak storms were to hit the area. Just a thought and something I was thinking about running past Dennis Brogan who is the keeper of the trophy for the city of Syracuse. In my opinion if it was just a couple of inches separating the cities it couldn’t be called until the end of April. JMO of course. Any thoughts?

The Snowman’s Been Dropping the Snowball Here Lately

Posted by The Snowman on March 27, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized.

Sorry about the lack of posts but unfortunately some other stuff has been going on not to mention that March has been as boring as sitting and watching a turtle run the 100 yard dash 😉 Warning – Personal Stuff Below!

My Moms been in and out of the hospital a couple times since the beginning of December with her last visit at Crouse ending this Monday. She’s a tough cookie though and pulls through every time and seems to be on her way to a full recovery from pneumonia once again. Of course seeing how I live with her I was lucky enough to catch it myself. The finger pointing hasn’t started yet as to which one of us gave it to the other yet though 🙂 I’ll have to figure out how my two sisters manage to avoid getting sick because they are always around helping out big time.

A big Thanks and Kudos to the doctors and nurses at Crouse hospital. Both of her visits started in the emergency room with them working on her and actually treating her within minutes of arriving. Both times she ended up in intensive care and the Dr’s and nurses were very caring and did their job in an outstanding manner not to mention friendly.

As for the nurses and staff on the 6th Floor North not enough can be said about how happy my mother was and our family was with them both visits. They always had answers for us and if they didn’t they would get them. I think what my mother liked and us was that they were always uppity in spirits along with a smile to go with it. Thanks to the Crouse staff for what you do and do well 😉 Thanks!!!

Another reason for the lack of posts was my oldest son just moved about a trillion miles away in hopes of starting a Career. OK, maybe not quite a trillion miles but it sure seems like it’s that far. He is in New Mexico training to be a Boarder Patrolman. He graduated last year with a degree in criminology and kind of had his mind set on being a police officer. Both of the civil service tests he took he passed but most likely not a high enough grade to get a call. That said he decided to give the Border Patrol test a shot and of course he had to go and almost ace that one. I wish I could say I was cheering him on for that test but, but, but…..

So right now as I type he is in New Mexico probably being yelled at as he does some physical training along with a ton of book work learning laws and so on. I was hoping he would end up working with the Manlius Police Dept which would keep him close to home 🙁 Now all I can do is support him, which I do and accept the fact that he will be living across the country if he passes the training for boarder patrol. At least we get to talk every night or two. So far he is liking it other than being so far away from everyone. I know he’ll do good and will be fine. It’s Dad who will be struggling for awhile 😉

The main reason for the lack of posts is there is NO SNOW! Ummm, that could change in the next day or so but at this point who really cares? The teaser days have already hit us and now the long drag out period begins. You all know the drag out period. We’ll get a 65 degree day only to be followed by a 30 degree day 😉 The good news is we made it through another winter and we all know what is right around the corner.

I could talk B-Ball but I am not going to do or say anything that could possibly jinx my favorite sports team so I’ll leave it at that. Have Super Weekend All!

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s, It’s

Posted by The Snowman on March 20, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized.

1:00 – Jeeeshhhhhhhhh, I missed it. Just heard from a friend on board and they have been in for over an hour now. Hopefully we can catch it when it leaves tomorrow 😉

12:40 – If it came it may have come in from the North and I missed it otherwise it may be flying late. Stay Tuned!

OK, It’s a plane but it’s a huge plane and most likely the biggest you will ever see. A little Birdie told me to look up in the sky around the Syracuse area at around 11:40 – Noon today and you may get a look at what I believe is the biggest military plane we have and the second biggest in the world. plane flying in.

The chances are you’ll hear it coming and to see something that big in the air is pretty cool. I’m out to start looking right now and hopefully a few pictures will follow later on.