Golden Snowball

Rochester Finally Gets Some Measurable Snow

Posted by The Snowman on December 2, 2010
Posted in: Golden Snowball, rochester snow.

An Update as of early this morning in the Buffalo area – Democrat and Chronicle

Rochester picked up over 3 inches of snow yesterday to make a run at the top but Buffalo said slow down rock, not yet. Buffalo added 5.3 inches of snow to their totals which keeps them on top of the snow contest. Rochester shows that 3.4 inches of the white fluffy gold fell from the sky above them which shot them from last place into second place this snow season. There still may be more to add to those totals come tomorrow morning.

Syracuse remains in third place followed by Albany and Binghamton. Binghamton has to be feeling pretty lonely down there at the bottom of the snow chart. Don’t worry, we all know that Albany will take that spot over sometime soon.

Yesterday was a day of heavy rain and strong winds, followed by snow at most of the Golden Snowball cities. Funny thing is here we are in December and 4 of the 5 cities broke a record for the most rainfall for the date. Binghamton was the only city that didn’t even though they had 1.10 inches of rain.

Hey, Have a Great Day All!

Buffalo Slips into 2nd Place by A couple of Flakes

Posted by The Snowman on February 17, 2010
Posted in: Golden Snowball, new york snowfall.

Since the last update here and I’m sorry about the lack of them Buffalo has slid past Rochester and is now in second place. Only a couple of tenths of an inch separate the two cities and the question is will one of them start piling up the snow to challenge Syracuse?

The New York snow race is still close with just a snow storm or two separating the top 3. A couple good lake effect snow events to the west of Syracuse could also put either Buffalo or Rochester on the top. Could this be the season that Da’Cuse goes down??? Still plenty of time left to see who ends up king of the snow hill.

Have a Super Day All!

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

It’s Heeerrreee, HAPPY WINTER ALL

Posted by The Snowman on December 20, 2008
Posted in: Golden Snowball, New York Snow Storms.

5:00 PM Update – Buffalo moves into 3rd place! The numbers just came out for Buffalo, Rochester Syracuse, Binghamton and Albany and the snowfall totals should be caught up as of 4PM today for this last blast of the white gold. The stats chart above should be up to date.

Buffalo set another record for todays date and it isn’t slowing down there yet. They seem to be caught in the perfect band of snow coming off the lake and it’s just not moving at all. Watch out Rochester, watch your back Syracuse!

Buffalo so far has 7.4 more inches of snow breaking the date record that went way back to 1914.

Albany set another date record picking up 6.3 inches so far today.

Syracuse just reported 5.3 inches

Rochester shows 3.8 inches and Bingo so far is slagging for this last storm with 3.1 inches of snowfall. WHAT A WAY FOR WINTER TO BEGIN,EH?

12/21 3:00 PM Update – There still isn’t much new snow being reported yet from early this morning but once the reports from NOAA get updated we’ll do an update. Looking at the radar Buffalo could be making a move for second place right now for the fact that their lake effect machine seems to have been running for awhile now. Who knows, they may even try to slip into the lead if it doesn’t stop sometime soon. Nothing in the Syracuse area for now and the sun even peaked out for a few minutes. Stay tuned for a change in the Golden Snowball lineup later this evening when some new stats come out. Just a warning for those of you heading out. The winds are suppose to pick up quite a bit and with all the snow on the ground most likely whether it’s snowing or not it will probably get a little bit hairy driving with the wind blown snow.

Well maybe not all but happy winter to some of you anyways. The sledders, skiers, etc! If I’m right and remember normally I’m not, Winter will start December 21st 2008 at 7:04 am EST this morning. Normally I try to make it a point to look out the window at the change of seasons just to say goodbye to one and welcome the new season but come on, 7:04 am on a Sunday morning is pushing it a little. If it was at 7:04 in the evening I may have done my normal goodbye – hello thing but I’ll pass on this one most likely unless by some kind of fluke I’m up that early I’ll say goodbye to autumn before I go to bed tonight and hello to winter when I wake up in the morning.

This Seasons Golden Snowball Winter Outlook Prediction

It’s always kind of hard to except that with the snow we normally receive before winter like this season that winter is just starting isn’t it? Well it is and for those of you who aren’t too crazy abut the cold and snow just keep telling yourself that spring is just around the corner. Ummm, then another corner and another and…. You get the point I’m sure. For the snow lovers we have probably a good 3 months or so of the fun white fluffy stuff to play around in so enjoy it while it lasts. Spring is just around the…Yeah, I already went there huh.

Anyways keep an eye out on your local weather forecast for today because another storm will be dropping snow on most if not all of the Golden Snowball cities and a bunch of other towns starting early Sunday morning. Right now there are a few warnings out and a whole lot of snow advisories posted. The chances are it will be snowy and windy so as always take it easy driving. More to come later in the day.

HAVE A GREAT WINTER EVERYONE!!! (Wow it’s been a whole year since that was said)