1,282 comments on “Current Top 25 Snowiest US Cities

  1. Pingback: Buffalo Still Leads Golden Snowball Contest, Syracuse Closing In | GoldenSnowball.com

  2. I’ll take 6th……This is a contest I am tired of us winning (or at least on the medal stand). My Massachusetts friends here can have it.

    • We won’t be 6th for long. They are calling for 6″ to 12″ tonight, and more the next few days. Snow machine kicking in.

    • Syracuse nearly always takes it down to the wire – we can count on snow in March and April when everyone else is tuning up their lawnmowers. Not sure I want to make up 10+” in mid-spring, but I know it’s very possible.

  3. Lowell, Ma is nyumber 1 right now with 111” to date. this total is for this winter season, not including the months of last winter in the same year. This season only. This past Valentines day storm gave us another 17 putting our total to 111″

    • Hi Ryan and Thanks for the heads up. I keep checking on the National Weather Service website for the official snow totals but the number is different. Not updated I think. Can you show me the official snowfall total from the NWS for Lowell so I update them???

        • Hey Bob, I am seeing the same thing. I’ve seen a couple different numbers for Lowell. There is a good chance that they may be in the lead right now but I have to see it on the National Weather Service before I will post it. I have talked to one of the people that keeps stats for Lowell and one of the numbers I see is what he is reporting. Unfortunately it’s not showing yet on the NWS site so it’s a wait and see game right now to see when an what the NWS ends up reporting :(

    • I assume you mean Upper Peninsula. This list is for cities 100k or over in population.

      Basically large cities that tons of people actually live in, despite the weather.

      BTW: There’s tons of small skiing towns that get far more snow than the Upper Peninsula. ;)

      • I don’t know about that, Kewenaw County has 212″ of snow as of yesterday. A lot of those ski towns out west take measurements at the top of mountains and they haven’t had much snow this year out west anyway.

  4. Marquette MI did not make it? We already have over 150 inches of snow this year and that is not much compared to our average. I wonder where you get your numbers from, they are not factual.

  5. Is it possible to look at earlier versions of this list by date? Like, say I wanted to see what the top 25 cities were on February 1st. Or say I want to save a link to today’s list, and post it somewhere, and have people who follow that link see the same list I think I’m linking them to, even if they look at it next week. Stable URLs for each update?

  6. We live near Worcester and Liz (my wife) works there. In addition to the distinction of being the snowiest city in the country it is also the most unsafe city to drive in with the most accidents. Basically I think that we can and will do better. Like how about “goodbye”!

  7. Syracuse chiming in here. Most of us are happy to be #6. We are at the top of the heap way too much as it is. I was really glad to see Erie coming on strong the last couple years as well. We needed the competition. Its hard at the top. :)

    • Erie here and we haven’t had this much accumulated snow in easily 20 years. The constant uber-cold won’t let any of it melt away. I can barely see over the roadside plowed snow to get out of the driveway onto a busy street. It’s like a game of Russian roulette to go anywhere. Most of us here feel for those in Mass and agree that they can have the title. It comes with major inconvenience and too much work. Go Massachusetts!

  8. Mass. has some serious snow this year. I still think at the end of the day the usual suspects are going to be at the top: Erie, Buffalo, and Syracuse.

    • Buffalo is more than willing to let Lowell and Worcester slug it out for number 1 for a change. ;) And if Boston wants to join the party in the top 3, we’re fine with that, too. (and our fine friends in Erie, PA are welcome to charge back for third as well). I’m getting a little tired of driving in walls of snow, and the extreme cold temperatures are about 30 degrees below average here, so we can use a break!

      • I hear you. I live in Buffalo as well. I’d be happy to not see another flake, but as you know we will still likely get snow storms into April.

      • Lowell, MA is now the snowiest city in the country. We had 96.9″ Saturday morning, and they measured 14″ more this morning at the National Weather Service Official Climate Site from this weekend’s storm. We beat out Worcester for a total of 111″ so far this season!

    • The 100.8″ number reported here for Lowell is the correct number. That is from the official NWS Co-op observer in the city.

  9. Buffalo is officially at 89.3 as of 2/13…going to be adding significantly to it tomorrow as we have had at least 7 or 8 inches today and its still coming down

  10. My wife and I moved from CNY to Washington state. Our rhodys are starting to bloom, the crocuses have emerged and our cherry trees are budding like mad! We lived near the Cherry Valley Turnpike. When the lake effect snow machine cranked up we’d get more snow than ‘Cuse. We don’t have a state income tax; pay a heck of a lot less in property taxes and no that I care but pot is legal here…gee wonder why we moved from NY to WA.

    • Just the opposite here, we moved from Arlington Washington to CNY, talked to one of my buddy’s in Everett yesterday, he said the ski resorts are closing up from lack of snow this winter.

  11. Nowhere near breaking our record of 53 straight days with snow in Buffalo, nor our record yearly snowfall of 199+ inches…both records that will likely stand forever

      • Please let it fall outside of Buffalo. We’re headed for the 100 mark at the airport. Those poor souls just south of it are at the 180 or more point, but they don’t count here because it’s only the airport measurement that counts.

  12. It’s snowed 16 days in a row in Buffalo…getting quite sick of it…32 inches+ in February already and the forecast has snow every day through Wednesday to go with below zero high temps on Sunday and single digit high temps 2 other days with below zero lows 4 days…WTF is going on??

    • Just checked the Doppler,
      looks like a little lake effect forming. Cuse coming on strong. Snow machine kicking in. To bad lake Erie freezes, even with your early lead it still may not be enough.

      • Well, if the airport was about 2 miles south, we would have an insurmountable lead because they would have counted the 7 feet of snow we got in November…I’m literally a 5 minute drive from the airport and we got 84 inches here and the airport got 7 inches…

        Half of Buffalo and the eastern/southern suburbs are approaching 200 inches not 100 inches

      • You know what’s funny. Everyone on the list is well above average for this time of the srason, BUT Syracuse is still in striking distance and we are under average.
        No lead is safe.

  13. Pingback: In the Bleak Midwinter | A Librarian by Any Other Name

  14. Word in the ‘hood is that after a couple of inches today we might be get a foot this weekend and then another foot mid-week. Whatever, it can’t get to Worcester fast enough!!

    Omg – what am I saying?!

    • Yeah, but while you guys are warming up in March, we will still be dealing with more snow…March is still a winter month for
      Western/Central NY and Erie…no lead you get is safe

  15. You need to think of adding the Albany – Schenectady-Troy tri-cities area….Albany alone has over 98,000 population, with Troy at 49K and Schenectady 66K I think. These cities are frequently counted as one statistical area due to their common area and historic, industrial and population base.

    • Albany shakin’ up the Golden Snowball division this season. Totally hanging tuff, Respect to Albany!

      • No doubt about Albany hanging tough Eric. I think this is the 1st season since I have been keeping the snow stats for the New York State snow contest, http://www.goldensnowball.com that they have. I think it’s been something like 12 years now. Hard to even think that they really have a shot at winning especially with so much time left and they way the storms have been blowing :)

    • Hi Janet, Thanks for the suggestion but unfortunately that probably will never happen. That would end up adding hundreds of more cities in situations like that and would be too time consuming not to mention where do you get the measurement from. It would probably take a week just to get all of the cities snow stats updated and by then they would all be outdated ;) Albany is in the New York snow contest BTW which you probably already know about and they are doing awesome this season :) They actually are still in the running this late in the season :) http://www.goldensnowball.com

  16. Cuse is hanging in there getting closer to last years figure at this time. Waitlng for that Ontario Lake Effect machine to send some totals this way. Need it to shift southeast!!!

    • I agree with you Glenn, ‘Cuse totally hangs tough, we been more than two feet below our normal all winter and haven’t had any snowstorms to speak of and we still grab a 5 seed in the rankings.

    • Glenn, it seems like every time I look at the radars when any Lake Effect snow has been around this season it’s always North, South, East and West of Syracuse :( I would love to know how much LES we received this season and how it compares to other seasons. It obviously can’t be much. Pretty much the same for Rochester this season it seems. Hopefully our Lake Effect Machine cranks up pretty soon…

  17. I grew up in Worcester and still work there. It is a nightmare trying to drive in that city right now. The main road are not that bad but you take a turn down any side road you would think you were in Siberia We are suppose to get more snow all this week. I don’t think we will see grass until July at this point.

    • Hi Abigail, My niece has been sending me some pictures of where she lives in MA and being from Syracuse I have to say thatt I am impressed then again I’m a snow lover. I can imagine the problems though that it’s causing just trying to find places now for the snow with maybe more on the way. I was reading another post which has always been my biggest problem about how hard it is pulling out onto a street and not being able to see over the snow banks to see if other cars are coming. Of course my niece is from Syracuse and still young with a couple of little kids so she has been enjoying it I think and the kids have been having a blast. That said I don’t think her husband is having much fun with the shoveling and trying to find a place to put all the snow. Stay safe :)

    • Yeah, you guys are not very good at clearing snow, so I can only imagine what it must be like trying to drive there…its bad enough in Buffalo where we are used to it…most side streets are basically one way streets now due to huge snow piles on one side of the street and cars parked on the other side

  18. Redfield New York popped the 200 inch mark today, kinda below avg. for Redfield at this point in the season though.

  19. Dang, Syracuse only got 5.4 inches since last night? I scraped down my driveway 3 times today, my forearms feel more like a 12-14 incher!

  20. Sorry Syracuse and Grand Rapids. Boston is now in 4th place (unless these two cities received snow today). We just received notice that Boston has hit 73.9 inches of snow for the season. This week’s storm has made Boston the 3rd snowiest February in recorded history.

    Worcester has now settled in with 83.1 inches – the snow (and blowing snow) has finally stopped. There is still more snow expected for Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and next Tuesday.

  21. Worcester is getting slammed this weekend. Three part storm – today, tomorrow and Monday. 18 inches are expected. It could get us up to 95 inches this season. And in first place. Let’s watch and see.

    • Cheryl, I can’t wait to see how this latest storm plays out. It’s going ot be really interesting without a doubt to see if Worcester can over take Erie :)

      • Less than an 1-1/2 inches away from 1st place, and it is still snowing. It has already been 4-1/2 hours since the totals were last logged in. We may already be in first place. Another 2-4 inches are expected Thursday.

      • Buffalo will gladly hand over second place to Worcester. While our towns south of Buffalo got considerably more (factor in up to 7 additional feet for November alone), our airport is in the less snowy northtowns.

    • We are hardy people in Erie. Winter for us is just the way it is. We really are not beset by tornadoes, earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes or droughts. Our thing is snow and when it comes to snow, we are the defending champs and , who knows, we may be creating a dynasty for most snowfall each year! Even so, I am soooooooo ready for spring!

      • True story. I remember last year when it hit ten degrees people were out in the streets in shorts (me included) rejoicing in the sudden heat wave.

  22. I am from Erie, Pa. I’ve had it with the snow already. We were first place last year and are in first place this year. If we win it again, there should be some kind of prize.

  23. I’m pretty sure NYC got 15 inches from Juno, not saying you did your calculations wrong, but I heard on NPR that we got 15in. in central park.

  24. Do we know what Buffalo’s total would be if the airport had received the same amount of snow as most of South Buffalo early in the season?

      • The big snow was not in the traditional snowbelt, Fidel. Poor south Buffalo, south Cheektowaga and West Seneca got slammed and usually don’t. And Cowlesville took the crown. New records for snowfall in a 24 hour period.

    • You can add about 84 inches to their total. That would get you close. All of us would be playing catch up without much chance of overtaking them.

      The difference though…..The same is true at a lot of locations. The Erie airport for example typically receives the significantly less snowfall than the general area because of its proximity to the lake and its more western location. Both can help it to miss many lake effect events. I still live in the City of Erie, but in an elevated area and I receive about 25% more than the lower areas to our north. Elevation can squeeze the moisture out as the air rises….A few years back southern Erie County received a little over 5 feet of snow over a 24-48 hour lake effect event. while the lower nortern areas received “:only” 2-3 feet. ….

      • I live in the snow belt of Erie Co. Pa. and as of 9 am my measurement is about 132″. Now snowing those big fluffy flakes that add up quick. Will have to do driveway again :)

      • Same with Grand Rapids totals. The airport is a considerable distance east of the city (away from lake Michigan). Our city totals are higher.

    • Hey Nick, it’s as Jon mentioned. Only cities with a population of 100,000 or more are in this snow contest. That sadi I am sure you are aware that Binghamton is in the New York State Golden Snowball contest as they always are and are doing pretty good. http://www.goldensnowball.com Will be interesting to see if Binghamton can catch some snow from the storm coming through sometime tomorrow to melt away some of the lead Buffalo has on all of us right now….

  25. Lake Erie though is not frozen over….at least not yesterday, Saturday, Jan 17th…I was up on some cliffs, taking some pics with my grandma, and there is a lot of water still running free. I think maybe 25 to 50 ft. from the shore-line was frozen and that was about it. So the lake-effect could still easily happen.

  26. Lake Erie almost frozen, which means the lake effect machine off Erie will shut down. Ontario is wide open….

      • Even with some of the lakes being shallow i’m still impressed how much some of them are freezing over in such a short period of time Michael :)

    • That is mostly correct, except there can still be lake effect from effects of friction off the ice, any open water from cracks that open in the fluctuating ice fields, and moisture transport through the ice in areas where ice isn’t real thick. There have been some good lake effect storms even w/ ice cover, but overall nowhere near what occurs w/ open water.Lake effect off ontario never really slows down until the sun angle gets high enough in mid to late february (which only provides brief disruptions to the bands in the afternoon hours).

      • I think last season was a good example of what you are talking about Bryan. Last season most of the lakes froze over pretty early if my memory is right and Buffalo and Erie continued to add some decent snow to their totals…. I thought for sure Buffalo was going to overtake Syracuse in the smaller NY snow contest the http://www.goldensnowball.com Of course being a Syracuse native I am hoping this at least slows Erie, Buffalo and Rochester down a little ;)

  27. Grand Rapids should be back on top with the next update. we got hammered with Lake Effect last night and are now at 48.0″ as of 9am this morning.

      • I don’t think it will. It looks like Erie is going to pick up some hefty accumulations which is fine by me. I’m sick of this stuff already lol

      • Lake effect machines have been cranking it out! I love this stuff. If Muskegon only had 100k population, they’d be tough to beat. They’re right on Lake Michigan. Grand Rapids is 45 miles from the lake.

      • Insofar as snow totals go, it’s too bad that the NWS office for greater Grand Rapids happens to be on the EAST side of the metro area, where the least amount of snow falls. Had it been placed in say, Grandville or Allendale(suburbs on the west side of town), our yearly snowfall totals could be several FEET more then currently listed. That said…I think the same could of course be said for Buffalo, if it’s official station were just a few miles to the south. It’s all about location!

      • They record Erie’s snowfall at the airport which is only about 1-2 miles off the lake. Inland another 5-10 miles gets substantially more snow like other cities that are on here. The elevation changes about 1,000 feet about 10 miles back from the lake where they get hammered.

        That being said, go Erie!!!

  28. Eire PA is about to make a run at the title with almost 36 hours of lake effect anticipated Tuesday night through Thursday morning and another round on Friday. Just have to hope it falls at the airport as well as everywhere else.

    • The above comment should have read “a run at the lead” as we are a LONG way from claiming the title…Again :)

      • Lol, it is early Alan but at least Erie is defending their crown unlike my city, Syracuse which just can’t seem to get any LES going this season. All of the snow keeps hanging to the North and East. Good Luck Erie and congrats on getting the lead back ;)

  29. Pingback: Baby, It’s Cold Outside | Jen @ Go Brady Go

    • It should be interesting to see who has the lead come the 1st day of the New Year. It’s pretty much been all Grand Rapids so far this season :) I think Buffalo, New York will tap into Erie lake effect, then again both Grand Rapids and Erie could tap into the lakes too ;)

    • Hey Glenn, unfortunately that was short lived and Buffalo is closing in on the King of the snow mountain Grand Rapids ;)

    • Hi John, According to the National Weather Service the list should be correct as of about 24 hours ago. Here is a link you can check out that will show you what Buffalo has so far this season. Just click go and you will get a pop up with the current snow stats… http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=buf Keep in mind that Buffalo itself did pick up quite a bit of snow but nothing compared to the towns that you were seeing on TV and on the internet.

  30. It’s great to see South Bend representing Indiana in this snow race. Great to have them back in the running, being that I live here. It’s been quite an interesting start to the season. Almost every single inch that has fallen in South Bend has been lake effect. All of the system snow has been to the south and north of us. Maybe, just maybe, one of the next storms will take a more lower Great Lake approach. :)

  31. The last time Buffalo got an epic lake event was in the 2000- 2001 season, and ended the season with 158.7 inches(Buffalo’s second snowiest year). This was actually measured in the airport, and not South of the city. Same year, the Cuse came from behind and topped out at 191.9. Someone in Buffalo stole the Golden Snowball award that year! LMAO!

      • I live 7 miles south of airport and are considered part of Buffalo We had 89 inches here. You need to rethink the stat gathering, to have a more factual total for these cities.

    • Unfortunately Glenn Syracuse lost a couple of inches in the last few updates :( Don’t know if The National Weather Service made a mistake adding the stats or what the problem was. They are only at 8.7 inches now instead of the 11.0 inches that was showing a couple of days ago…

  32. Nobody has anything to say about Grand Rapids, Mi? The last time the downtown area ofGrand Rapids had over 28 inches of snow in November was in the 1890′s. Most snow on record for this month in history… Now that’s a snowy November for GR! Curious to see what the rest of 2015 will bring in inches.

    • Hey Matt, I have been trying to blog about Grand Rapids and tried to get a hold of a couple of sites from there. Thanks for sharing that info and I’ll post about it. Congrats on being in first place (For Now) ;) I’m impressed that you guys are almost 25 inches over your average to date so far this season. I think you’re right, it will be interesting to see what the rest of the season has in store for us…

    • Hi Sue, here is what I wrote on another comment with the same question.

      most of the snow was hitting the towns to the south and east of Buffalo and wasn’t hitting the Buffalo airport where they measure the snow. I think this is one time that the people that it’s missing, even snow lovers are probably happy that it is missing them. Pretty crazy where it was snowing…

      • and yet I thought the numbers were too HIGH for the airport measurement. I live just slightly north of there and got a fraction of the airport???

      • Yeah, basically if the airport was moved 2 miles south or east, we would be so far ahead, it wouldn’t even be a contest…I live 5 minutes from the airport and we got 84 inches and the airport got 7…

        Same thing happened a few years ago…we got 43 inches and the airport got 2 or 3…just the way the lake band comes when we get that type of heavy snow, we are on the northern edge of the band in Depew/Lancaster and the airport is just outside of it…

      • It’s crazy here now. And now they are talking about flooding cause it started to rain. 13 people died already. One guy was stuck in his car and not found for days :(

        • Hi Jill, yeah not a good situation from what I have seen and pretty sad about the deaths. Let’s hope the flooding does because disastrous and that all of the roofs hold up. Still have a bad feeling about some of the people that have may not have been checked on yet also :( Stay safe!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>