IMPORTANT RULES EDITED – The rules are simple. Copy and paste the blank form below into the comment section of this blog entry if you already have a blogger username.

If not send an email with your predictions to comments@goldensnowball.com . The entry with the lowest overall (total of all cities) error percentage wins!

Edited – The contest closes on the end of November 15th.

The tie breakers will remain the same so any entry put in before the first snow fall of 1/10th of an inch or more will over ride any other ties.

Thanks for participating and GOOD LUCK!

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Seasonal Snowfall (October 1st 2008 – April 30th 2009)

ALBANY:
BINGHAMTON:
BUFFALO:
ROCHESTER:
SYRACUSE:

Tie Breakers

FIRST CITY TO REPORT SNOWFALL >0.1 INCH:

DATE OF FIRST SNOWFALL >0.1 INCH:

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Well on this last day of August and summer unoffically comming to an end I figured a new post is in order. I don’t know about what everyone else thinks but for me this summer was on the boring-lame side. The weather was just terrible constant rain and storms, a cool wet period for late July and early August, no real summer heatwave. I think I used my pool all of twice this summer. And my garden was a major flop this year, the rain flooded my garden so often I lost most of my plants to mold and rot. Last year when it was hot and dry and SUNNY I pumped out almost 700 pounds of vegtables this year I barely cleared 100 pounds.

Anyways this past week the annual almanacs were released. While their is very little science involved in the forcasting of these two publications it is an interesting read and gets you into the “winter is comming” mode. The more traditional and more respected “Old Farmers Almanac” calls for our winter to be somewhat delayed and not starting until Thanksgiving. They call for a very cold December but not much in the way of snowfall. They then point towards a warm January followed by a cold March with much above average precipatation. So in a nutshell a pretty basic winter with the up and down times. However the original “Farmers Almanac” while it doesnt go into a much detailed forcast is warning those in the northeast to prepare for one of the worst winters we have seen in many years. They describe the northeast as being in danger of a long “numbingly cold and very snowy” winter.

While I don’t want to get to deep into my early predicitions I had been leaning towards a cold, not numbingly, but still cold winter, that would see and early start with lots of lake effect follwowed by numerous general storms, before a very early start to the srping of 09. I am seeing this as being a top 5 snowfall season for a few GSB cities this season. However for the exact figures you are going to have to wait until October 1st when I post my official predicitions and kick off to lake effect season blog.

Happy Independence Day everyone! Today we celebrate the 4th of July, the Independence from Great Britain which was 232 years ago. Cookouts, barbeque’s, soda pops and a lot of celebrating in the US. Keep in mind the families that won’t be together today because of their loved ones are overseas protecting our freedom. No doubt the American flag will be flying high in many countries today where our soldiers are stationed.

What is it about our flag, the great Flag of the United States of America? The flag that at certain times can and will bring a tear to your eyes such as seeing the torn, beat up flag that was brought out from the world trade center buildings. Like the flag that was handed to my family by the veterans of the Eastwood Post at my Dads funeral services. Like the American flags that the Patriotic Guard Riders (PGR) held as they lined a pathway for a fallen hero, Capt. Philip J. Dykeman who was killed in Iraq and paid their respect to his family and community.

About the Patriotic Guard Riders:

I’ve read several articles about the Patriotic Guard Riders but yesterday was the first time I visited their website and if you haven’t I encourage you to do so. Things are tough in America right now and if you say it isn’t then your fooling yourself. I guarantee you will come out of their website saying, damn, I’m Proud to Be An American and Proud of people like the PGR. It’s people like them, both men and women, both veterans and non-veterans, as they have on their website both Hawks and Doves that make America what it is.

Most of them are motorcyclists, bikers and riders. With an invitation by the families of a fallen hero they will pack up and travel with their flags to show respect to the families and to the fallen soldier. We have all seen on the news how some groups (sick groups IMO) target funerals of a service man or woman killed in action. Just one of many things the PGR will do is go to the services only if invited by the families and shield the family members from the protesters. NO confrontation and they will actually stand there in a line with their backs turned to the protesters with the flags standing straight up.

I could type forever trying to explain all the things the Patriotic Guard Riders do but I wouldn’t be doing them justice. They also do a lot for our veterans. Their website says it all so when you have some time visit their site and really spend some time reading about them. You’ll be glad that you learned more about them. I know I was. Their slogan is “Standing For Those Who Stood For Us” and throughout their site you will notice the word “Respect” which is what they are all about. Respecting our fallen heroes and their families. To that I say Thanks to all the members of the PGR on this 4th of July for playing a part of what America is about!!! We will be toasting you all today!

Click Here to Visit the PGR Website
Click Here to Read Letters of Appreciation They Received Warning, bring some tissues with you if your a sissy man like myself!

OK, enough already about the mushy stuff. I hope everyone has a great, safe 4th of July. The snowman will be celebrating a friends birthday along with the 4th of July at a cookout today with a lot of friends and family. Most likely I’ll be doing my best to try and keep Budweiser an American company 😉 Happy 4th Of July All!!!

Interesting Fact – Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two founding fathers of the U.S., and the only two men who signed the Declaration of Independence to become President of the United States, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the United States’ 50th anniversary.

What’s with the hail so far this season? This wasn’t nothing like the hail that fell on June 16th but twice in a weeks time? Nasty looking clouds just rolled over us again about an hour ago and as usual the pictures didn’t come out. Maybe if I actually climb out from under the bed, open the curtains and the window maybe they will come out better 😉 Anyways, here is a peak at the pea size hail that just came down for a few seconds. I’ll load one of the pictures up even though the screen did ruin the shot I took.

Yeah, I know point the camera toward the ground next time!

A Nice Picture of My Bedroom Screen with a Cloud in the Background

Here is what I would call a real hail storm not from around CNY most likely.

Picture of Hail on June 16, 2008

Picture of the clouds that set off the tornado warning in Syracuse area June 16th!

Happy almost summer all! This evening look out the window at exactly 7:59 pm est and wave goodbye to Spring and say hello to Summer. According to Charles McChesney who writes on the Syracuse.com website summer will arrive at 7:59 this evening and one of the cool things he mentioned is how early it is this year. You can read Charles article at http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/summer_cant_wait_sneaks_in_a_d.html

It’s the earliest it’s been in something like 112 years. Just think about it! There are only about 12 – 13 people in the world who are still alive that have seen summer come this early. That’s how long it’s been. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people#Oldest_validated_people_currently_living_.28top_10.29 .

For me personally I’ll be waving goodbye to one of my favorite seasons and saying hello to my least liked season for the fact that I know more of them 90 degree days are waiting around the corner. Enough said!!!

Have a Great Safe Summer Everyone!

One thing worse than hearing the TV beeping that severe storm warning sound is when it makes the sound and it’s for a Tornado warning 🙁 Of course the first thing the sissy man (sissy man meaning myself of course) is go to the bay windows and sum up the situation as I flick like crazy through the tv channels to see what all the stations have to say about it.

Click Picture for Larger View

It’s not too often we get tornado warnings in the Syracuse – Onondaga county area but every now and then we do. Today was one of those days and those clouds were that could be seen from the window were pretty nasty looking to say the least. Then of course when the hail started to fall it was time to keep the cellar door open for my fast escape. Unlike the General who most likely would be out there snapping pictures I prefer to snap them from the bay window. I took a few of the clouds that came out so so and then tried to catch the hail on video. That didn’t work too good because I was across from the balloon fest in Jamesville this weekend and had over 300 pictures along with a couple of videos so when I started to catch the hail on video my memory card was full. I think it’s a 1 or 2 gig memory card which pretty much tells you all how many pictures I took this weekend.

While doing a little surfing here is an old article from the New York Times about a tornado that hit back on September 15, 1912 in the Syracuse and the Long Branch ( called a pleasure resort back then) area in which 3 people were killed and 50 wounded. It will open in a .PDF file and shows a little bit different of style of writing that we are use to. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9906E1D7123CE633A25755C1A96F9C946396D6CF&oref=slogin

Anyways everything seemed to work out ok today with the tornado warning and I haven’t seen any reports of damage anywhere. I have to admit that as much as a sissy man I am the hail that lasted a few minutes if that was pretty cool to see and hear as it slammed against the house windows and roof. For whatever reason I have a feeling this isn’t going to be the last tornado warning that Upstate and Central New York will be seeing before winter sets back in.

Hopefully everyone has been enjoying the nice although a bit hot weather we have been having so far. It looks like the next couple few days might be my kind of weather which is around 65 degrees and sunny. Here is a Storm site worth checking out. http://www.stormchaoswx.com/ Enjoy All!