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All posts for the month March, 2011

It’s the final PBR Forecast of the season. And, the way things have gone, the end couldn’t have come soon enough. The forecasts here have been fine for the most part, but the ones over on Golden Snowball were rough. More information on the final PBR Forecast to come, but first, it’s a look back at the last outlook.

The previous forecast involved snowfall for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre from the 23rd to the 24th. The ended up with 9.5 inches total.

Bull’s Eye: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has at least 10 inches of snow.
On Target: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has at least 5 inches of snow.
Complete Miss: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has less than 5 inches of snow.

A half of an inch from a Bull’s Eye, but an On Target forecast works.

Point Blank Range Forecasts Results
Region Bull’s Eye On Target Complete Miss Points
Average: 0.89
GSB 1 3 5 5
GSG 3 5 1 11
Total 4 8 6 16

However, the GSB forecast let me down once again, and I’m still below the 1.00 goal. I need 2 Bull’s Eyes to get to 1.00. The only way to do that is for a Bull’s Eye in each the GSB and GSG forecast.

Now on to this forecast, which involves the 5 biggest U.S. cities: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia. With 2 warm weather cities and 3 colder ones, it is tough to figure something they all would have in common. So, instead, I will be comaring LA and Houston’s low temperatures with high temperatures from NYC, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Bull’s Eye: Los Angeles and Houston’s coldest lows will be warmer than New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia’s warmest highs.
On Target: Los Angeles and Houston’s coldest lows will be warmer than 2 of the three warmest highs.
Complete Miss: Any other result.

Be sure to check out the forecast over on Golden Snowball as well. Have a great week everyone!

It may be the first full week of Spring, according to the calendar, but there is one more push of winter weather at the start of the “new” season. This forecast will ride on just one city. More details on that to come, but first, it’s a look back at the last forecast.

The previous outlook involved Indiana weather, or lack there of it. Below are the precipitation totals for the chosen Indiana cities from the 11th through the 13th.

Evansville: Trace
Fort Wayne: None
Indianapolis: None
Lafayette: None
South Bend: None

Bull’s Eye: All five of the listed Indiana cities have no measurable precipitation this weekend.
On Target: A majority of the listed Indiana cities have no measurable precipitation this weekend.
Complete Miss: A majority of the listed Indiana cities have measurable precipitation this weekend.

Four out of five had no precipitation, while Evansville recorded a trace. That’s all five without measurable precipitation, and a Bull’s Eye.

Point Blank Range Forecasts Results
Region Bull’s Eye On Target Complete Miss Points
Average: 0.94
GSB 1 3 4 5
GSG 3 4 1 10
Total 4 7 5 15

However, the GSB forecast let me down once again, and I’m still below the 1.00 goal. Just two forecasts remain, so I need to get it together quickly.

Now on to this forecast, which involves snowfall. Snow will be moving into the northeast U.S. and it looks like the area around the NY/PA border will be hit pretty good. As a result, I’m putting it all on just one area, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Bull’s Eye: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has at least 10 inches of snow.
On Target: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has at least 5 inches of snow.
Complete Miss: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has less than 5 inches of snow.

Be sure to check out the forecast over at Golden Snowball as well!

While it’s still March, I wanted to get the April forecast in now. Before I do that though, I’ll give a quick update on the March forecast.

If you recall, the forecast for the month involved snowfall in Colorado. Below are the snowfall totals for the month so far, with monthly average in parenthesis.

Colorado Springs: 0.6 (9.4)
Denver: 4.1 (11.7)
Pueblo: 2.7 (6.4)

Needless to say, this one appears to not be working out the way I expected. I’ll need a late snowfall push in 2 of the cities to get to the On Target result, and all three to get in the Bull’s Eye category.

Now on to the April forecast. I believe that the snow machine is coming to an end for the season. As a result, this forecast involves the Top 5 in the latest update. I believe they will remain mostly as they are in mid April. Below are the top 5 cities as of the update earlier.

1. Syracuse, NY
2. Rochester, NY
3. South Bend, IN
4. Erie, PA
5. Buffalo, NY

Bull’s Eye: All of the Top 5 will be in the same positions at the end of April.
On Target: Three of the Top 5 will be in the same positions at the end of April.
Complete Miss: Two or fewer of the Top 5 will be in the same positions at the end of April.

Happy Spring everyone! Be sure to check out the SITD forecast over at Golden Snowball as well.

We just did an update on the top 10 snowiest US cities only. I went back about 30 cities just to make sure. I’ll try and get all of the cities updated sometime today.

Right now one thing is on my mind and that’s the NC DOUBLE A Baby. Brackets to fill out still and this NCAA tournament should be a tough one to pick. I think the reason being I really don’t see any stand out teams that are wayyyy above the rest. No doubt there are a few that may seem to stand out but I think this tourney is going to be known for the tournament of upsets if you can even call it that. More to come and GO SYRACUSE – GO BIG EAST and I’m not talking snow either :)

Have a Super Day All!

I mentioned in my Point Blank Range Forecast this week that I would explain why I wanted to forecast for Indiana, regardless of what conditions they’d have, this weekend. So, here it goes.

In 15 weeks, Mario Marathon begins their 4th edition. The idea is simple, a few guys play games from the Super Mario series. The more people donate, the longer they play. All of the proceeds go to a charity called Child’s Play, which gives toys, games, and such to various children’s hospitals. Last year, Mario Marathon raised over $80,000.

Last year was the first year that I started watching the event. When I first heard about it, I thought it was pretty silly. And, I was right, but not for the right reasons. It simply is a lot of fun, and for a good cause. Obviously, you don’t have to watch the whole thing, as it goes on for a few days straight, but I’m sure if you like to play and watch others play video games, any time you spend there will be worth your while.

I mentioned that the event does not start for another 15 weeks. There are a few reasons why I wanted to mention the event now. First off, since this is a site that is really focused on the winter months (we better not get snow in June!!!!), I wanted to at least mention it when we’d have more people here. The second reason is that the Mario Marathon crew will be holding a sort of mini event this Saturday afternoon. They don’t have an official start time yet, as they will be testing their equipment before going live. The website is and you can follow them on Twitter as well.

By the way, the event takes place at a house in Indiana, that’s why the forecast is for Indiana this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

This forecast will be a bit unusual, as it involves no measurable precipitation over the weekend. There is a reason for this though, which will be explained in detail tomorrow, both here and on Golden Snowball. But first, it’s a look back at the last forecast.

Snow was in the forecast for Cleveland, OH, Toledo, OH and Erie, PA. Here are their totals from February 25th through the 27th.

Cleveland: 8.9
Toledo: 7.3
Erie: 8.6

Bull’s Eye: All three get at least 6 inches, with at least one getting a foot, of snow this weekend, .
On Target: All three get at least 6 inches of snow this weekend.
Complete Miss: One of the three gets less than 6 inches of snow this weekend.

All three were above 6 inches, but none made it to a foot. So, this is an On Target forecast.

Point Blank Range Forecasts Results
Region Bull’s Eye On Target Complete Miss Points
Average: 0.93
GSB 1 3 3 5
GSG 2 4 1 8
Total 3 7 4 13

However, that’s not enough to get me to 1.00 as the GSB forecast was also On Target. I increase the average by 0.01 to 0.93. Just 3 forecasts remain, enough to either finish out strong or end with a whimper.

Now on to this forecast, which involves no precipitation. This is for the state of Indiana, which I had planned on doing a forecast for at this time for two reasons. One of which is that most areas will be having their St. Patrick’s Day parade this weekend, and South Bend, Indiana is home to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. But there is another reason for it, and that will be explained tomorrow morning. It just turns out that there isn’t too much expected for Indiana this weekend. The five Indiana cities involved in this forecast are Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Lafayette and South Bend.

Bull’s Eye: All five of the listed Indiana cities have no measurable precipitation this weekend.
On Target: A majority of the listed Indiana cities have no measurable precipitation this weekend.
Complete Miss: A majority of the listed Indiana cities have measurable precipitation this weekend.

Be sure to check out the forecast on Golden Snowball as well!

Well you called it dead on Joe :) Joe left a comment that Detroit was on the move and the had enough snow to jump past Chicago and NYC like Joe mentioned. I think what’s even more impressive is that all of the Michigan cities have a pretty good competition going on between them. Just as impressive is that the Michigan cities like Flint, Ann Arbor and Detroit are hanging in there with the big dog Grand Rapids ;) WTG!

Syracuse, NY still holds a commanding lead and no doubt it’s going to take an act of it’s not nice to fool mother nature in order for another city to jump ahead at this point I believe. Is it posible? Sure but it’s getting late in the snow season and it’s getting more unlikely that it will happen. I think after the above average snow season that most of the cities have had the question is does anyone want to really beat them now? Do you want another 50, 60, 100 inches more to beat them :) Plus Syracuse is under a storm warning right now with another 8 – 12 inches expected today. OK, enough said and check out Stephens Shot in the Dark Forecast below.

Have a SUPER week all ;)

It’s March, and the top of the standings show a complete lack of Colorado cities. So, this month’s forecast will focus on them. Before that happens, though, it’s a look back at the February prediction.

February’s forecast involved the Midwest, comparing the rest of the month with the first two days. Below are the totals for the five cities in the final 26 days, with the first 2 days in parenthesis.

Chicago: 8.8 (20.2)
Detroit: 21.1 (10.6)
Kansas City: 7.3 (8.9)
Madison: 9.5 (14.3)
Milwaukee: 12.0 (17.6)

Bull’s Eye: Snowfall totals for the first 2 days of February will be more than the rest of the month for all five cities.
On Target: Snowfall totals for the first 2 days of February will be more than the rest of the month for three or four of the cities.
Complete Miss: Snowfall totals for the first 2 days of February will be more than the rest of the month for two or fewer of the cities.

Detroit was the only one to have more snow in the final 26 days of February than the first 2, so it is an On Target forecast.

Here are the results, combined with the Golden Snowball site.

Shot In The Dark Forecasts Results
Region Bull’s Eye On Target Complete Miss Points
Average: 1.25
GSB 1 0 1 2
GSG 1 1 0 3
Total 2 1 1 5

The GSG forecast was a Bull’s Eye, so as a result, the average sits at 1.25, above the goal set before the forecasts began. My intention at the beginning of the season was to make March the final SITD forecast. However, the new plan is to have this one go for the month, and in a few weeks I will post the final one. This would give me 5 forecast periods, including the one done to start the season.

Now on to this month, which focuses on Colorado. Three cities, Colorado Springs, Denver and Pueblo, are below their average snowfall for the season. While I don’t expect that to change by the end of the month, I do anticipate above average snowfall for them for March.

Bull’s Eye: All three cities have above average snowfall for March.
On Target: Two of the cities have above average snowfall for March.
Complete Miss: One or none of the cities have above average snowfall for March.

Here are the average snowfall marks for each city.
Colorado Springs: 9.4
Denver: 11.7
Pueblo: 6.4

Remember to check out Golden Snowball to see the March forecast there. Have a great month everyone!