All of the cities including our state capital picked up a little bit of snow yesterday. Yup, Albany even picked up 2.2 inches of the white fluffy stuff. Binghamton better get moving because it would be pretty embarrassing to be at the bottom under Albany at the end of the season. Bingo did manage to pick up 2.3 inches yesterday though and won the round for a change. Rochester surprisingly was the loser yesterday picking up just 1 inch. Buffalo grabbed 1.4 and Syracuse added another 2.1 inches of new snow.

Looking at the radars all of the snow is hanging up north so most likely not a lot of anything going on for any of the Golden Snowball cities most of the day. Of course we know how the weather can change rather quickly in NY so keep an eye on it.

From the AP: Phil the groundhog, one of the most popular forecasters of all time, didn’t see his shadow today. For those of you who aren’t aware of Phil. He is a groundhog that that predicts whether spring will come early or whether winter will last another 6 weeks. This year Phil didn’t see his shadow which means put away the winter jackets and break out the baseball gloves. Unless you are in the Tug Hill area where the snow probably won’t melt until sometime in July.

This is the first time in something like 7 – 8 years since Phil hasn’t seen his shadow. Most of the time he does. With what’s in the forecast for the next several days it’s hard to even think about Spring coming early this year. We will have to keep an eye on the weather the next couple of months and see how Phil’s forecast pans out this year.

Jill posted a link here that shows a great view of lake effect coming into the Buffalo area which is awesome. It’s at buffalorising.com and the link is http://www.buffalorising.com/city/archives/2007/01/snow_storm_a_gords_eye_vi.php#more Thanks for the link Jill! Awesome pictures.

Syracuse might be in the lead right now but I’m seeing a lot of forecasts that seem to think Buffalo is going to make out the next several days. Right now there is a lot of stuff going on weather wise with warm air coming up from the south and then westernly winds and so on. Obviously you can tell I’m not a weatherman when I use the word “Stuff”. That said there is a good chance if Buffalo has it’s snow shield down they might be able to sled past Syracuse when the cold front come through and from what I have been reading it could be the coldest weather of the season so far. Good Luck Buffalo in this next round!

It is now official!!! Syracuse has taken over the title as King of the Snow Hill and for the first time in the 2006 – 2007 Golden Snowball contest Buffalo is no longer in the lead. Way to go Syracuse snowing in at 50.2 inches.

My guess is that it might be a short stance on the hill for Syracuse. I’m thinking the fun really is just starting and that there will be several lead changes in the coming weeks and as I have said before, don’t be surprised to see Rochester grabbing a share of the top spot down the road. I’ll have to look but I think that was the longest that anyone has held onto the lead right from the start of the season up until the very last day of January. To that I say, way to go Buffalo. Have a great night all. Make that have a snowy night all and look for an update in the late morning.

Unless something changes before NOAA puts out their next snow totals updates the Golden Snowball contest unofficially has a new leader. After making hundreds of calculations, dozens of phone calls, taking measurements and so on it appears that Syracuse has finally taken over the lead. Unofficially that is. Ok, I really didn’t do any of that stuff except to take a measurement in the yard which came in at 5 inches and even that is unofficial because it wasn’t done in accordance to the NWS standards. That all said, the official numbers should be in sometime around 5:30 with the Binghamton NOAA posting the stats for Syracuse’s overnight snowfall and for part of today.

I did find a couple of data pages which indeed show that it is safe to UNOFFICIALLY say that right now Syracuse should be in the lead. If Buffalo piles up some snow before the official stats come out at around 5:30 then they will continue to hold the lead without ever having lost it because this is all Unofficial if you get my drift, snow drift that is. Look for a later day update and the possibility of an Officially new leader.

Right now I’m looking out the window and see 3 crows staring back at me, really. The first thing that comes to mind is I hope I’m not eating crow come 5:30 for making this post 🙁

Syracuse is Just 1.1 inches away from taking the lead. Keep your defences up Buffalo and watch out for Rochester who also has their sights on the Golden Snowball trophy! Have a great day all!

Rochester continues to melt away the lead that both Buffalo and Syracuse has on them. Add another 3.4 inches to Rochester’s totals compared to Buffalo’s latest report of another 1.3 inches and Syracuse showing an embarrassing 1 tenth of an inch for yesterday and the same for Binghamton, just 1/10 of new snowfall. Both city’s should hold their head down in shame after letting Albany, who picked up 0.4 on the day beat them. That will change though. Snow is in the forecast for today and tonight, right into part of tomorrow.

Several warnings, advisories and so on are in effect for a few of the cities. Right now Syracuse is getting a good blast of snow on and off with the heavier stuff expected to come down later. The chances are that Buffalo and Rock city will get in on the action also. Buffalo has been able to fend off Syracuse’s attempts so far to over take them in the Golden Snowball contest. At one point Syracuse was within 1.1 inches of taking the lead away but Buffalo picked up several more inches to stay king of the snow hill. I mentioned before and I’ll say it again. Watch out for Rochester because they are making a move and are well capable of sledding into the lead with a couple good snowfalls that miss the other both DaCuse and Buffalo.

More on the battle of the Snowmen to come soon including Syracuse’s ill fated attempt to send a snowman spy into the Generals territory in Buffalo.