Syracuse Still King of the Snowiest US City Contest

First off congrats to Green Bay and Pittsburgh on making it to the Super Bowl! That’s twice in a week that Pitt busted my bubble. Once beating my boys the Syracuse Orange and the second time beating my favorite football team the NY Jets :(

As far as the snow contest goes Syracuse has managed to hold onto the lead so far with a little bit of snow in the forecast for this week. Hopefully the storm to the south will move inland a little but as of today it’s not looking like it will. Things could change though ;) Here in Syracuse it was something like 13 below zero this morning and places to the north and around Syracuse were a lot colder than that. Rochester, NY is still knocking on South Bend, Indiana’s door but just can’t seem to slip ahead of them.

There was some slipping around in the top 10 but only one city dropped out and that was Erie, Pa. They got bumped out by Worcester, Mass has been moving up the snow mountain along with Boston pretty good the last few updates. Just 3 updates ago they were in 32nd place and now they are #10. I dropped several cities from the All Snowiest city section that really haven’t been doing much and still have to add a few. I figure I can always add them back if some storms start up. I did look up a few of the cities and if you want to suggest any to add to the contest remember it’s cities with a population of 100,000 or more. Dropped from the list are below.

58-64-64 Wichita, Kansas

354,865

4.0

8.1

59-55-52 Washington DC (National)

550,521

3.8

8.8

60-59-56 Baltimore, Maryland

635,815

4.3

6.9

61-60-59 Springfield, Missouri

150,298

4.0

???

62-56-55 Albuquerque, New Mexico

494,236

2.0

???

63-63-63 Tulsa, Oklahoma

382,457

2.8

???

64-62-62 Oklahoma City, OK

531,324

0.4

5.0

Have a Great Week All!!!

Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Climbs the Snow Mountain

We have three new cities in the top 10 for the first time this season. Boston, Mass, Erie, Pa and Hartford, Connecticut picked up quite a bit of snow since the last update at the Golden Snow Globe website. I knew Erie would make a move sooner or later and they have had it pretty easy up until the last week. Boston and Hartford are a little bit of a surprise but with the storms coming up the northeast coast they should keep cashing in on the white gold.

More of a surprise to me is that Boston is ahead of Worcester, Mass which you don’t see too often. Syracuse, still the snowiest city to beat most likely hit the 100 inch mark as I was updating the stats. A nice blast of lake effect snow dropped a quick couple of inches as I was updating and it hasn’t stopped yet. There are still several cities just a couple of good snow storms away from Syracuse so don’t think it’s a runaway for Syracuse. If South Bend can tap into another LES event like a couple of weeks ago they are right there with Da’Cuse. A couple more Nor’easters and several cities will be in the running ;)

According to the weather channel all of the US states received measurable snow with the exception of Florida. I don’t know if that is a first or not. I know it explains why this update took a little longer than normal with most of the cities listed here receiving some snow. That said, I will be dropping a few cities and adding a few. I know some of the cities in the southeast have picked up some snow and if you have a city in mind that you want listed that has received at least 10 inches give or take let me know. Remember though that the population has to be 100,000 or more. Hey,

Have a Great Week All :)

Golden SnowCast Forecast 20 Results

In the New York State prediction, I believed that all of the Golden Snowball cities would have below average high temperatures on either Saturday or Sunday. The table below shows the National Weather Service’s high temperature data for both days.

New York State High Temperatures
City Saturday Average/Recorded Sunday Average/Recorded
GSB Cities with below average temperatures: 5
Albany 58/49 58/53
Binghamton 54/50 54/49
Buffalo 55/43 55/53
Rochester 56/46 56/56
Syracuse 56/49 57/55

All five were below average on Saturday, so the forecast is correct. Rochester was the only one to not be below average on both days, hitting average exactly on Sunday. Most cities were warmer on Sunday than Saturday, only Binghamton had cooler Sunday high temperatures than Saturday’s.

In the World forecast, I believed that a majority of the southern New England reporting stations would total a half an inch of rain or more from Friday through Sunday. The table below shows the daily precipitation amounts for each city, as reported by the National Weather Service.

Southern New England Rainfall
City Friday Saturday Sunday
Cities with 0.5 inches or more total: 3
Boston, MA 0.39 0.15 0.08
Bridgeport, CT 0.25 0.11 None
Hartford, CT 0.47 0.02 Trace
Providence, RI 0.41 0.11 Trace
Worcester, MA 0.36 0.21 Trace

Boston, Providence and Worcester total over 0.5, so the forecast is correct. Both Connecticut cities were under the mark. All of the cities had the majority of the rainfall on Friday and Boston was the only city to get measurable precipitation on Sunday.

Golden SnowCast Results
Region Record Percentage
Overall 36-4 90%
NYS 18-2 90%
World 18-2 90%

It took all 20, but the 90% mark has been met! Both the NYS and World forecasts finished 18-2, and the worst forecast of the season was snowfall for Pennsylvania back in forecast 4. Only one forecast batch went 0-2, which also happens to be forecast 4. The other 2 misses were forecast 1′s NYS outlook and forecast 14′s World prediction. I’m looking forward to next season, as there are some changes on the way.

Have a great week everyone!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 20

It’s the last Golden SnowCast Forecast for the 2009-10 season. To start things off, as always, is the New York State prediction. This involves a look at high temperatures for the weekend.

All of the Golden Snowball cities will have high temperatures below average on either Saturday or Sunday.

After record breaking heat to start the month, temperatures look to be relatively cool this weekend for Upstate New York. For the forecast to be correct, on either Saturday or Sunday, all five GSB cities must have high temperatures below average highs.

For the World forecast, it’s a look at rainfall in the southern New England states.

A majority of the reporting stations in southern New England will total a half an inch of rain or more from Friday to Sunday.

Five reporting stations that will be used for verifying the forecast: Bridgeport and Hartford, CT, Boston and Worcester, MA, and Providence, RI. If rainfall totals are a half an inch or more in at least 3 of those cities, the forecast will be correct.

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 14 Results

For the New York State forecast, I believed that a majority of the Golden Snowball cities would have above freezing temperatures for either Monday or Tuesday. The table below shows the high temperatures for both days, as reported by the National Weather Service.

New York State High Temperatures
City Monday Tuesday
GSB Cities with high temperatures within above freezing: 5
Albany 42 45
Binghamton 35 39
Buffalo 36 36
Rochester 37 38
Syracuse 37 40

All five were above freezing, so the forecast was correct. Albany was the hot spot to be among the five, as both days high temperatures were well into the 40s. Buffalo was the only one within 5 degrees of freezing on both days.

For the World forecast, I predicted that at least 3 out of 5 New England NWS stations would have measurable snowfall on either Monday or Tuesday. The table below shows the NWS snowfall reports.

New England Snowfall
City Monday Tuesday
Cities with measurable snowfall: 2
Bridgeport, CT None None
Boston, MA 0.2 None
Hartford, CT None None
Providence, RI Trace Trace
Worcester, MA 0.5 None

The streak has come to an end, unfortunately. None of the five had measurable snowfall on Tuesday, and only 2 of them had 0.1 or more on Monday. That means only 2 had measurable snowfall on either day. Providence was the only one to have some sort of snowfall on both days, but each was just a trace.

Golden SnowCast Results
Region Record Percentage
Overall 24-4 85.71%
NYS 12-2 85.71%
World 12-2 85.71%

This week was a split, so the percentage went down a little bit. The New York State and World forecasts now have the same percentage, just over 85%. If my plan to have 20 forecasts holds up, there is no room for error to reach the 90% target.

Have a great rest of the week!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 14

This week brought the first real storm to the Golden Snowball cities. A few snow records were broken for either Thursday or Friday in a majority of the GSB cities (Binghamton, Rochester and Syracuse). The roads were in pretty bad shape on Thursday night and I couldn’t get to work. It took me about a half an hour to go 2 miles, at which point I decided to call in and let them know I wouldn’t be able to be there. So I’d rather not deal with snow in the area for a little while. That includes forecasts, so the New York State forecast will go with a temperature outlook to start the work week.

A majority of Golden Snowball cities will have above freezing high temperatures on Monday and Tuesday.

I feel better already! It’s not a snow forecast, and involves temperatures being above freezing. I’ll take it at this point. For the forecast to be correct, high temperatures must be above 32 degrees F in at least 3 out of 5 GSB cities on Monday and Tuesday. For a little clarification, it must be the same 3 this time.

The world forecast involves snow for the southern New England area.

At least half of the five major reporting stations in southern New England will have measurable snowfall on either Monday or Tuesday.

I had a hard time finding an area to forecast, and an even harder time figuring out snowfall amounts. So, I’m defaulting to the “measurable snowfall” forecast. The five cities that will be used for verification are Boston and Worcester in Massachusetts, Bridgeport and Hartford in Connecticut and Providence, RI. If three out of the five get at least a tenth of an inch on either Monday or Tuesday, this forecast will be correct.

Have a great weekend everyone!