It’s a Wrap, Syracuse Wins The NY Golden Snowball Contest

Posted by The Snowman on May 1, 2015
Posted in: Golden Snowball. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

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 😉

Binghamton Adds Snow, Syracuse Still Leads

Posted by The Snowman on April 23, 2015
Posted in: Golden Snowball. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

First off, a Big Thanks goes out to Evelyn M. for your recent donation to the snow site. Thank You Evelyn for taking the time, I really appreciate it 🙂

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Binghamton is the only city so far reporting snow from what could be our last blast of cold air. Binghamton picked up 0.3 inches of snow yesterday to bring their snow totals to 93.2 but unless some super freaky weather hits I’m pretty sure Binghamton is out of the running along with Rochester and Albany.

Syracuse’s snow lead over Buffalo is still just a little over 6 inches is looking good with the end of the contest fast approaching, but we still have some cold air around so no way have they clinched the snow title yet. All it will take is one decent band to set up over Buffalo and it will be interesting.

Looking at the snow stats I noticed that Syracuse is the only city in the Golden Snowball contest that is behind their normal snowfall to date. All of the other cities have already hit their normal snowfall for the season. Albany is winning that battle with 16.8 more snow than a typical snow season for them.

I’m guessing that after the taste of warm weather pretty much everyone is ready to get the snow contest over with and move on to Summer. It won’t be long and keep in mind that the normal call it a wrap date is May first so we are only about a week away. Stay Tuned 😉

Have an Awesome Day Everyone!

Buffalo is Melting Syracuse’s Snow Lead Away

Posted by The Snowman on March 29, 2015
Posted in: Golden Snowball. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

First off Congrats to Rochester on joining the 100 inches of snow club 🙂 Rochester is the 3rd city in the Golden Snowball contest to join both Syracuse and Buffalo in the 100 inch club. Now keep it going Roc to make this a 3-way race this season.

It was only about 4-5 days ago where it was starting to look pretty good for Syracuse. Syracuse had an almost 10 inch lead on Buffalo but as always and pretty much what happened last season Buffalo stepped it up a notch and has been melting away the lead that Syracuse had.

On March 24th, Syracuse was leading the Golden Snowball contest by 9.5 inches of snow. Right now that lead has slipped down to only a lead of 6.9 inches. Buffalo is just a small storm away from taking the lead over Syracuse. Could this finally be the season that Buffalo gets crowned the champions of the Golden Snowball contest? The cold air is still in the forecast so anything can happen and there is still a lot of time left whether we like it or not 😉

Because of the way the season started with that big lake effect snow event that happened early in the season but missed the Buffalo airport I have to say that I am almost pulling for Buffalo to win this season. OK, reality just set in and of course being from Syracuse that thought just passed by. Go ‘Cuse 😉

Rochester has always been a city that I have a hard time counting out no matter how late in the season it is and how far behind they are. Remember that since the Golden Snowball contest was started up again after a long break, Rochester has been the only city to dethrone Syracuse. Of course. that season was a pretty weird one with all of the cities being wayyyy below their normal seasonal averages.

Speaking of averages Syracuse is about to fall behind their normal snowfall totals to date unless they pick up some snow today. As of yesterday’s snow stats Syracuse is dead on what the normal snowfall to date should be for this time in the season. The normal snowfall to date is 119.1 and right now Syracuse is at 119.1 for this season. Both the National snow contest and the NY Golden Snowball contest tend to be close if Syracuse is close or below their normal snowfall. That’s good news for both Buffalo and Rochester 🙂

The National Snow Contest – All 3 of the CNY/Western cities which are Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester are doing pretty good in the National Snow Contest. Syracuse had the lead but just got knocked down a notch from a city from Massachusetts. Click here for the National Snow Contest, The Golden Snow Globe!

Stay Tuned because this seasons snow race isn’t even close to being over yet, like it or not. Have a Super, Awesome Day Everyone 🙂

Current Odds for The Golden Snowball Snow Contest

Posted by The Snowman on March 24, 2015
Posted in: Golden Snowball. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

First off as always I want to give a Big Thanks to Edwin T. for your recent donation to the site. I know I say this over and over again, but it really does help me out a lot. Thank You for taking the time Edwin, I truly appreciate it 🙂

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OK, hold off on the betting this is all just for fun. The next couple of days look like it will be kind of quiet for most of the cities so as the snow season is winding down let’s lay some odds for which city will win the 2014-2015 Golden Snowball Contest. Hours of research and handicapping went into laying out the odds so I would take them very seriously when betting with your family and friends. OK, no thinking at all went into the odds and it’s all just for fun 😉

Mother Nature is the only one that knows how much snow lies ahead for all of the Golden Snowball cities, but I feel pretty confident in saying that Albany and probably Binghamton are out of the running now. I know that the NY area still gets snow in April and even sometimes into May, but I don’t see Binghamton making up 30+ inches and I definitely can’t see Albany getting 40+ more inches of snow this season.

I think Rochester still has a shot but only if they start melting away some of Syracuse’s and Buffalo’s snow this week. You may also want to talk to the Snow God 😉 Buffalo still has a decent shot, but the good folks in Buffalo may want to do a snow dance or two 😉 OK, enough already and here are what I believe the odds are as of today, March 24th.

Syracuse – Current Odds — 2 to 1
Buffalo — Current Odds — 4 to 1
Rochester – Current Odds 15 to 1
Binghamton – Current Odds 50 to 1
Albany – Current Odds — Scratched

All in fun and it will be interesting to see if the odds change in the coming weeks ahead. Have an Awesome Day Everyone 🙂

Still a Close Snow Race Between Syracuse and Buffalo

Posted by The Snowman on March 16, 2015
Posted in: Golden Snowball, new york snow contest. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

First off, I want to give a Big Thanks to Valerie A. and Deborah B. for your kind donations to the snow site. I really appreciate both of you taking the time and they do help out. Thank You Deborah and Valerie 🙂

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OK, It’s still a close snow contest between Syracuse and Buffalo as we come down the home stretch. At least let’s hope that we are coming down the home stretch. It’s starting to look like it’s turning into a two city snow contest now with Rochester now behind about 20 inches of snowfall.

Syracuse has a smaller lead over Buffalo right now than they did last season at this time and last season was super close. Syracuse only beat Buffalo by 2.1 inches. Buffalo melted away Syracuse’s lead last season right through until the end of the 2013-2014 snow contest. All it will take right now is some decent lake effect or a small snowstorm to swing things around for Buffalo and slide them into the lead.

I think Rochester will have to pull off a magic trick and find a way for the snow to hit just Rochester and miss both Syracuse and Buffalo. Then again keep in mind that Rochester is the only city to beat Syracuse since the Golden Snowball contest has been started up again. If the cold air sticks around Rochester can also chip away at the lead that Syracuse has over them right now. Do we really want the cold air to stick around. I’m guessing that the folks in Rochester won’t mind losing this season if it means not having to get another 20+ more inches of snow to win 🙂

Syracuse just took the lead in the National snow contest for the first time this season and Buffalo is also hanging tough in that contest. Right now, Buffalo is in 4th place in the snowiest Big city contest in the United States. You can click here for the national snow contest.

Stay Tuned because I’m pretty sure that more snow will be falling and with the contest this close the Golden Snowball trophy is still up for grabs. Have a Great day everyone!

Syracuse’s Missing Snow Was Found and Lead Grows

Posted by The Snowman on March 4, 2015
Posted in: Golden Snowball. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Updated 3/5 – First as always I want to give a big Thanks to Jack G. for your kind donation to the snow site. Thank You for taking the time, it helps out Big time and I really do appreciate it Jack 🙂

It looks like the unsolved case of the missing snow from Syracuse has been solved. I still don’t have a clue as to where it went to in the first place but the missing snowfall was added back to the totals for Syracuse and they now have a lead of over 5 inches over 2nd place Buffalo 🙂 Like I mentioned below, this tends to happen from time to time and it looks like this time it was just an data input error by the NWS.

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3/4 – It looked like Syracuse was adding to their snow lead over Buffalo and the rest of the cities until some of the previous snow amounts disappeared. Conspiracy? Nah, I don’t think the National Weather Service has any skin in the snow race 😉 This does happen from time to time and I believe it’s happened to Buffalo already at least once this season.

My guess is it’s an adjustment from a previous date or perhaps and error entering data. Like I said, this is common and if you think about all of the statistics being input everyday by the NWS how could it not happen from time to time… That said, I want my $%^#%^ snow back 🙁 Oh yeah, I have to pretend I am unbiased here 🙂 OK!

So the Golden Snowball contest just got a little closer and now Syracuse’s lead is only 2.7 inches as of the last update. Most of the cities continue to add some new snowfall to their totals and all of the GSB cities are over their normal average snowfall for this time in the season. Syracuse and Rochester are the only two cities that have less snow at this time last season. That could change pretty fast though.

Stay tuned and check out how close the National Snow Contest is also at the Golden Snow Globe snow site. Have a Great Day everyone 🙂