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All posts for the month March, 2010

Golden SnowCast Forecast 18

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 31, 2010
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , .

Taking a look back at the forecasts in March, there was a severe lack of snow predictions. That trend looks to continue for at least the start of April. In fact, the New York State forecast involves a look at record heat.

A majority of Golden Snowball cities will break record highs on either Friday or Saturday.

The GSB cities should have highs around 80 degrees on both days. If that holds true, records will likely fall. In order for my prediction to be correct, at least 3 cities must break record high temperatures on either Friday or Saturday.

For the World forecast, it’s a look at Europe. That’s right, it’s the second time the World forecast has gone outside of the United States.

A majority of the five chosen European cities will have rain on either Friday or Saturday.

The five chosen cities are Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris and Rome. I am not sure where I’d get data on the numbers, so all I am looking for is whether it rains or not. I’ll be using the hourly reports from weather.com to verify the forecast. If three or more have rain in any of the hourly reports on Friday or Saturday, this forecast will be correct.

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 17 Results

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 30, 2010
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , .

For the New York State prediction, I said that a majority of the Golden Snowball cities would have warmer lows on Sunday and Monday than Friday’s highs. The table below compares the temperatures from each day, as reported by the National Weather Service.

New York State Temperatures
City Friday Highs Sunday Lows Monday Lows
GSB Cities with warmer low temperatures: 5
Albany 40 31 41
Binghamton 32 28 37
Buffalo 31 37 38
Rochester 33 38 37
Syracuse 33 34 40

All five had warmer low temperatures on Monday than Friday’s highs, and three of the five had warmer lows on Sunday, so this forecast is correct. As an interesting note, three of the five had Monday’s lows warmer than Friday’s highs by 5 degrees or more.

My World prediction stated that all of the selected cities in Texas would have mostly sunny skies on either Sunday or Monday. The table below shows the cloud cover for the five cities, according to the National Weather Service.

Texas Sky Cover
City Sunday Monday
Texas cities with under .5 sky cover: 5
Austin 0.1 0.0
Corpus Cristi 0.3 0.0
Dallas 0.2 0.0
El Paso 0.0 0.1
San Antonio 0.1 0.0

All five cities were lower than 0.5 on both days, so the forecast is correct. As a note, Houston did not have sky cover data available, so I used the next biggest city that had NWS reports, which was Corpus Cristi.

Golden SnowCast Results
Region Record Percentage
Overall 30-4 88.23%
NYS 15-2 88.23%
World 15-2 88.23%

Another perfect week, and the goal is still possible. Just three batches of forecasts remain, and all six predictions must come true for the 90% threshold to be met.

Have a great week everyone!

The Top 10 Snowiest Cities Pop 100,000 Updated

Posted by Patrick on March 29, 2010
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , .

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The title pretty much says it all. I just did a top 10 update and only one change in the lineup. I don’t see Syracuse adding any new snow in the near future so the title is up for the taking if you can pile on some new snow.

As for my new found friends in Flagstaff, AZ, I think we have enough posts in the comments section including one from my darling Daughter who figured she would just keep it going and going even though she lives in Oswego, NY :) Most will be just overlooked for the fact that the contest is 100,000 population or more. If I have the time I will try and give some of th smaller cities that got decent snow this season recognition come the end of the season ;) I’ll try and get a full update in sometime this week.

Have a Super Week All!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 17

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 26, 2010
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , .

As we’re nearing the end of March, most areas seem to be in the clear for snow…at least for now.

For the New York State forecast, it’s a look at temperatures, comparing today’s highs with lows to start next week.

A majority of Golden Snowball cities will have warmer low temperatures on either Sunday or Monday than Friday’s high temperatures.

Most of the GSB cities had high temperatures hovering around freezing. Albany is the only one that reached 40, doing so at about 1:30 this morning. The forecast will be correct if at least 3 of the 5 GSB cities have Friday’s high is colder than either Sunday or Monday’s low temperatures.

For the World forecast, it’s a cloud cover forecast for Texas.

All of the five selected cities in Texas will have more sun than clouds on either Sunday or Monday.

I believe this is the first time I’ve done a cloud cover prediction in the Golden SnowCast. The five cities used for verification are Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio. If the reported cloud cover is under 0.5 for all five cities on either day, this forecast will be correct.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Colorado Cities Plowing Their Way to Top

Posted by Patrick on March 25, 2010
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , .

Lakewood and Fort Collins are on the move with the latest storm to hit Colorado. They both climbed several spots on the snow mountain. The weather in Syracuse has been pretty decent so they better start getting a little nervous about winning the first national snow contest for a city with a population of 100,000 or more.

It’s still just a matter of a storm or two for just about any of the top 10 Golden Snow Globe cities to move to the top. The North East has had some unusually warm weather with perhaps some snow in the forecast for early next week but as of now it doesn’t look like much. I’m still trying to find some snow stats for a few of the Colorado cities and will be contacting NOAA to see if they have them. Come the end of this seasons contest I will also talk with the National Weather Service to make sure we have the right city as the winner. Like I’ve mentioned in the past, this season is kind of a test run to get all the bugs out and I have several plans to make the contest more fun and interesting for the future seasons. Suggestions are always welcome.

Have a Great Week All and GO CUSE!!!! NCAA that is ;)

Sweet Sixteen Snowfall

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 22, 2010
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , .

The first two rounds (3 if you count the 64/65 game) of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament are complete and we’re down to sixteen teams looking for this year’s national championship. I felt it would be fun to highlight this season’s snowfall amounts for each team, so I’ve made a table showing the schools’ locations and seasonal snowfall.

Sweet Sixteen Snowfall
School Location Season Snowfall
Baylor University Waco, TX 3.7
Butler University Indianapolis, IN 33.0
Cornell University Ithaca, NY 81.6
Duke University Durham, NC 8.0
Kansas State University Manhattan, KS 40.7
Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 42.6
Ohio State University Columbus, OH 49.9
Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 21.2
University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 23.7
University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA 52.8
University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 5.2
University of Washington Seattle, WA Trace
St. Mary’s College Moraga, CA None
Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 106.1
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 54.0
Xavier University Cincinnati, OH 38.4

Some cities listed did not have data available, so I used information from a close location. The reports for Morgantown, WV indicate no snowfall this season. I find that hard to believe, so the 70.5 is from Fairmont, WV about half an hour away. I have sent an email to a meteorologist in West Virginia, so if I hear back, I’ll update the total.

Update (5/26): The meteorologist in West Virginia said there was not an official number, but that about 54 inches looks good, so I’ve edited the table.

Have a great week and enjoy the Regional Semis on Thursday and Friday!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 16 Results

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 21, 2010
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , , .

For the New York State forecast, I believed that at least one of the five Golden Snowball cities would have warmer high temperatures on Saturday than on Friday. The table below shows the recorded high temperatures according to the National Weather Service.

New York State High Temperatures
City Friday Saturday
GSB Cities with warmer high temperatures on Saturday: 2
Albany 68 70
Binghamton 63 65
Buffalo 53 48
Rochester 65 51
Syracuse 64 56

Albany and Binghamton pulled through and the forecast is correct. A pretty substantial drop occured in Rochester, high temperatures were almost 15 degrees cooler on Saturday than Friday. All the other cities had a single digit difference in high temperatures.

For the World forecast, I predicted that at least one of the chosen cities in Colorado would have more snow on Friday than at least one of the chosen cities in Wisconsin would have on Saturday. The table below shows snowfall amounts in Colorado and Wisconsin for both days, as reported by the National Weather Service.

Colorado and Wisconsin Snowfall
City Friday Saturday
Colorado cities with more snow: 3
Colorado Springs, CO 0.9 None
Denver, CO 1.7 None
Pueblo, CO 2.2 None
Green Bay, WI Trace None
Madison, WI 1.1 0.7
Milwaukee, WI Trace 0.8

The lowest of the Wisconsin cities was Green Bay, getting no snowfall on Saturday. All three Colorado cities had snowfall on Friday, so this forecast is correct. As it turns out, all three of the Colorado cities had more snow on Friday than any of the Wisconsin cities did on Saturday. As an interesting note, Madison had more snow on Friday than Colorado Springs did, and a higher two day total than either Colorado Springs or Denver.

Golden SnowCast Results
Region Record Percentage
Overall 28-4 87.5%
NYS 14-2 87.5%
World 14-2 87.5%

Both forecasts were correct and the quest for 90% continues. The plan is to go up to four more forecasts. If I don’t have any more bye weeks, the end of this season’s Golden SnowCast should be in mid-April. I’m thinking about changing things up for next season, going toward more of a targeted scoring system (the closer to actual results the forecast is, the more points received), and adding a longer range forecast. More details on that will likely be given either toward the end of this season, or the beginning of the 2010-11 campaign.

Have a great week everyone!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 16

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 17, 2010
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , , .

First, a quick review on how the Golden SnowCast works. In each forecast post, I make two predictions, one for New York State (home of the Golden Snowball contest) and one for anywhere else in the World (most often somewhere in the USA). The idea is to make forecasts with some certainty to them. To achieve this, there will be no waffle words like “chance of” in any of the predictions. The goal is 90% accuracy by the end of the season.

You can also take part in the forecasts with something we like to call Stump the Weather Chump. Reply to this, or any Golden SnowCast or Stump the Weather Chump post. Include the area and element you would like covered. Try to keep it something for 2-3 days in advance, but I’ll try to be flexible with each request.

Spring officially arrives on Saturday, so I thought it would be a good idea to have some comparisons in my predictions this time.

Up first, as always, is the New York State outlook. Once again, it involves temperatures, but this time, it’s a look at the last day of Winter and the first day of Spring.

At least one of the Golden Snowball Cities will have warmer Saturday highs than Friday highs.

A cold front will be moving into the area on Saturday, which complicated this forecast. I initially said a majority would have warmer temperatures on Saturday, but now my confidence in that has shrunk. If at least one of the five GSB cities has warmer high temperatures on Saturday than on Friday, this forecast will be correct.

While there is warming in New York State, there is still signs of Winter in the United States. The World forecast compares snow totals for cities in Colorado and Wisconsin.

At least one of the 3 chosen Colorado cities will have more snow on Friday than one or more of the 3 selected Wisconsin cities receive on Saturday.

The cities used for verifying this forecast are Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo in Colorado and Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee in Wisconsin. If any one of the Colorado cities has more snow on Friday than any one of the Wisconsin cities receives on Saturday, this forecast will be correct.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Snowiest US Cities Pop 100,000 Updated 3/15/10

Posted by Patrick on March 15, 2010
Posted in: All US Snow Cities, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , .

I just did an update on all of the cities. Not much change in the top 10 other than Baltimore had a correction to their totals and lost a little. Don’t ya hate when that happens. No doubt it’s been a dry spell as far as snow goes with only a handful or so adding to their snow totals. Here in the Syracuse and CNY area the temps are looking to stay in the 50′s or close to it for several days. I’m still not convinced that we’re all done with the snow. These are what I call the teaser days of winter which always make us think about Spring but then we get hit with some more snow. Of course I’ll take the sunny and 50 degree weather while it’s here ;)

As to all of the posts about Flagstaff, Arizona. I know that you’re getting some decent amount of snow and if it wasn’t for the 50 degree weather here in the North East I would probably be jealous. As PSUSyr5 mentioned this contest is for cities with a population of 100,000 or more. Nothing against the smaller cities but that’s just the way it is. The same with Marquette, Mich who always gets hit good. Ok, maybe we can put Marquette in seeing how they are a Big East team :) I’m kidding but both cities should be mentioned and you are now. Just a note that the chances are there are several other smaller cities with more snow than you and all of the bigger cities. Fulton, NY is just one city that comes to mind and they are having just a so-so season.. http://www.tsforecast.com/seasonalsnowfall.html

Have a Great Week All!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 15 Results

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 14, 2010
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , , .

For the New York State forecast, I had two predictions involving high temperatures for the Golden Snowball cities on either Thursday or Friday. All of them were to be at least 5 degrees over, and one of them would be 10 or more above, average. The table below shows Thursday and Friday’s average and recorded highs, according to the National Weather Service.

New York State High Temperatures
City Thursday Average/Recorded Friday Average/Recorded
GSB Cities with high temperatures 10 above average: 5
Albany 42/51 43/53
Binghamton 39/57 39/45
Buffalo 41/61 41/54
Rochester 41/61 41/51
Syracuse 41/57 42/50

Turns out, they all reached 10+ above average on at least one day, so the forecast is correct. In most cities, the difference decreased on Friday, Albany’s was the only one to increase. Buffalo and Rochester were both 20 above average on Thursday. A very mild couple of days indeed.

For the World forecast, I believed that on either Thursday or Friday, at least one of five selected cities in Maryland and Pennsylvania would have at least a half of an inch of rain. The table below shows precipitation amounts according to the National Weather Service.

Maryland and Pennsylvania Rainfall
City Thursday Friday
Cities with .5 inches of rain or more: 2
Allentown, PA None 0.28
Baltimore, MD None 0.98
Erie, PA None 0.03
Philadelphia, PA Trace 0.54
Pittsburgh, PA 0.02 0.24

Baltimore and Philadelphia surpassed the 0.5 mark on Friday, so the forecast is correct. Only Pittsburgh had measurable precipitation on Thursday, while Erie had just a few hundredths of an inch on Friday. For most of the cities highlighted, it was a very wet way to end the work week.

Golden SnowCast Results
Region Record Percentage
Overall 26-4 86.67%
NYS 13-2 86.67%
World 13-2 86.67%

Both forecasts are correct, and the quest for 90% remains in tact. The next 5 weeks need to be prefect to get to the milestone I set at the beginning of the season. The past five forecasts were almost perfect, going 9 for 10. The forecast 14′s snowfall prediction for southern New England brought the 2nd miss on the World side. The only truly terrible outlook remains forecast 4′s snowfall amounts for Pennsylvania.

Happy pi Day everyone!