Watch Out Erie, Buffalo and Grand Rapids, Here Comes Syracuse

Posted by Patrick on February 13, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Well it’s looking like it’s a go for Syracuse with this storm. It’s been shifting north west all day and the weather service just changed the advisory to a winter storm warning. Hopefully this is Catch up time for Syracuse and a few of the other cities.

Erie has way too big of a lead for any of the cities to catch them with one storm but another 2 or 3 and it should be a close snow race. Watch out Erie, PA, Here we come. Then again the way Erie has been playing this season they find a way to tap into any snow that is hanging around the country so maybe we better wait and see if this storm goes far enough west to reach them too.

As of the last update from NOAA they have Syracuse expecting anywhere from 8-10 inches but our locals are saying 2-6. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it all pans out.

Here is the latest briefing from our National Weather Service for Syracuse

Here is a good article by Glenn Coin about how frozen the Great Lakes are now and how they may be frozen over the most that they have ever been before all is said and done this winter. Worth reading :)

I’m going to try and get at least a top 10 update in tonight. I’ve been waiting for todays snow stats to come out which is right about now. Have a Great Night All…..

I Have a Feeling Syracuse Is About to Make a Move

Posted by Patrick on February 10, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , .

I don’t know what it is but I just have a feeling that Syracuse is going to finally join in the snowball fight between Erie, Pa, Buffalo, NY and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Call it a hunch, a gut feeling or maybe it’s because the snow dance was done a week or so ago and I have enough confidence in it :) Whatever it is I think it’s time for the big 3 on top of the mountain to maybe start restocking your snowball supplies because Da’Cuse is on the loose ;)

I did get a full update in earlier today and should hopefully get at least another top 10 update posted sometime tomorrow. One of our great writers here in the Syracuse area Sean Kirst who writes for the Post Standard newspaper in Syracuse, NY and also for Syracuse.com just put out an article about the National snow contest. Worth reading and check it out at www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2014/02/national_snowfall_contest_syra.html  Sean who loves our smaller New York snow contest at goldensnowball.com  was a big part of why that contest got resurrected.

Stay Tuned and Have an Awesome Week All :)

Fantasy Snowfall 2014: 2/10 Update

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on February 10, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , .

Of course, February is the shortest month. However, if the first nine days are any indication, it might pack the biggest punch of the contest. The table below shows the month’s snowfall totals, through 2/9.

GSG Fantasy Snowfall 2014
Brent Mike Pat Steve
45.7 59.2 45.0 53.0
Starters (Full Credit)
Erie 15.8 Ann Arbor 13.2 Buffalo 13.5 Akron 8.5
Milwaukee 5.4 Boston 12.6 Cleveland 11.6 Anchorage 0.4
Sioux Falls 2.0 Flint 12.5 Rochester(MN) 0.9 Grand Rapids 13.3
Worcester 15.6 Rochester(NY) 15.0 Spokane 5.4 Hartford 13.2
Syracuse 12.4 Syracuse 12.4
Total 38.8 Total 53.3 Total 43.8 Total 47.8
Bench (Half Credit)
Denver 2.4 Madison 4.4 Green Bay 0.4 Billings 10.4
Lansing 11.3 Pittsburgh 7.3 Salt Lake City 1.9 Minneapolis 0.0
Total 6.9 Total 5.9 Total 1.2 Total 5.2

In this season’s contest, all four competitors are given the option to start Syracuse for one month as a bonus 5th starter. Brent and Mike used that option in January, while Pat and Steve have used it now.

The two that started Syracuse in January were tops in the month. So the same thing would hold true for February, right? Not so much. Mike is building on his January victory, while Pat and Steve’s use of February is only proving to keep them in the race for the first part of the month.

The next Fantasy Snowfall update will likely be around the 20th, depending of course on how much snow the cities get. Stay tuned!

Erie Pennsylvania Stays King of the Snow Mountain

Posted by Patrick on February 6, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Erie, Pennsylvania remains the king on top of the snow mountain, for now anyways ;) Personally, I think they are getting a little greedy with the snow. They seem to be taking the snow from where ever they can. The north, south, east and west. If it’s snowing any place in the US you can almost bet that Erie is going to find a way to get in on it :P

I’m just picking on Erie of course because they are in the lead and have held the lead for quite awhile now. Myself being from the Syracuse area, our bragging rights are on the line right now especially sitting way back in the fourth spot on the snow mountain. Both Buffalo and Grand Rapids are still holding their own and with at least a month plus left in the snow season anything can still happen. Plus don’t count out last seasons competitor Worcester, Mass, they have been moving up pretty good. Anyways, Kudos to Erie for holding onto the snow total lead for so long this season ;)

Here are a few snow stats for some of the cities from yesterdays snow storm Niko. Rochester, NY and Worcester, Mass seem to be the big winners as far as totals go and I’m not sure if there is more snow to add for the overnight. Seven of the cities listed below set a date record.

Erie – 8.1
Buffalo – 8.8 – Old Record 5.2 back in 1916
Grand Rapids – 4.8 – 4.4 – 1942
Syracuse – 10.0 – 5.6 – 1995
Detroit – 7.6 – 5.0 – 1908
Rochester – 12.7 – 5.5 – 1907
Flint – 5.7 – 3.5 – 1982
Ft. Wayne – 6.2 – 5.0 – 1967
Worcester – 12.2
Boston – 10.7
Hartford – 10.2

It looks like there is another storm brewing maybe for the weekend so stay tuned :)

Snowfall Update Coming a Little Later Today

Posted by Patrick on February 5, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities.

Update 8:00 PM - I’ve been trying to get a top 10 snowiest city update in but unfortunately NOAA, the National Weather Service is having some issues. I’ll keep trying and hopefully the site will be working for me some time soon. I have a couple of tweets from Ruth and Dave both saying that Erie is now over the 100 inch mark on the season. Stay Tuned :)
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Just wanted to give you a heads up that I’ll be trying to get an update in sometime today. Unfortunately I threw my back out and then to top it off Bronchitis set in. Nothing worse than coughing like crazy when you back is killing you :( Hopefully meds later today from the Doctor will give me a boost. OK, now who wants to shovel my driveway for me ;)

Fantasy Snowfall 2014: January Results

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on February 1, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , .

We’re at halftime of this season’s Fantasy Snowfall contest, and the race is heating up! Or…is it cooling down? Just what *IS* the correct phrase for a close snow competition? Anyway, with January now in the books, it’s time to take a look at how the four competitors fared for the last month. The table below shows snowfall totals for each of the cities chosen for the Fantasy Snowfall contest.

GSG Fantasy Snowfall 2014
Brent Mike Pat Steve
125.2 129.7 104.2 107.7
Starters (Full Credit)
Erie 28.1 Boston 21.8 Buffalo 42.4 Akron 19.1
Lansing 22.7 Madison 8.5 Cleveland 23.7 Grand Rapids 41.9
Milwaukee 19.6 Pittsburgh 17.9 Green Bay 17.0 Hartford 10.3
Worcester 20.0 Rochester(NY) 20.8 Salt Lake City 10.1 Minneapolis 22.7
Syracuse 25.3 Syracuse 25.3
Total 115.7 Total 94.3 Total 93.2 Total 94.0
Bench (Half Credit)
Denver 14.3 Ann Arbor 37.8 Rochester(MN) 14.8 Anchorage 9.2
Sioux Falls 4.7 Flint 32.9 Spokane 7.1 Billings 18.2
Total 9.5 Total 35.4 Total 11.0 Total 13.7

In this season’s contest, all four competitors are given the option to start Syracuse for one month as a bonus 5th starter. Brent and Mike have used that option for January, while Pat and Steve have it for either February or March.

As expected, Brent and Mike, who picked Syracuse for the month, were both ahead of the two that didn’t. But, Pat and Steve were able to get good totals out of Buffalo and Grand Rapids to somewhat make up for that. Here’s a look at the season totals after two months.

GSG Fantasy Snowfall 2014 Standings
Players December January February March Total
Brent 103.0 125.2 0.0 0.0 228.2
Mike 92.2 129.7 0.0 0.0 221.8
Pat 98.8 104.2 0.0 0.0 203.0
Steve 110.2 107.7 0.0 0.0 217.9

Brent, who has finished second in both months, currently has the lead. Mike has made a nice turn around, going from last to second place. As an interesting note, had Pat used Syracuse for January, he’d currently have the overall lead by 0.1! Obviously, it’s still anyone’s contest, especially since some big snow-getters will have to be on the bench soon.

Here’s a look at the starters for February:

February 2014 Starters
Brent Mike Pat Steve
Erie, PA Ann Arbor, MI Buffalo, NY Akron, OH
Milwaukee, WI Boston, MA Cleveland, OH Anchorage, AK
Sioux Falls, SD Flint, MI Rochester, MN Grand Rapids, MI
Worcester, MA Rochester, NY Spokane, WA Hartford, CT
Syracuse, NY Syracuse, NY

Each city must start, and be benched, in at least month. To meet this requirement, Brent must bench Erie and Worcester, Mike must bench Rochester, Pat must bench Bufalo and Cleveland, and Steve must bench Grand Rapids in March. This means Brent and Pat’s starters are locked in for March, while Mike and Steve have their options for 4 out of 5 cities.

Depending on how much snow the cities get, the next Fantasy Snowfall update will be around the 10th. Stay tuned!

Fantasy Snowfall 2014: 1/23 Update

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on January 23, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , .

We are now just over 2 thirds of the way through January, and after the big snow event along the coast, it’s time for another Fantasy Snowfall update. The table below shows the month’s snowfall totals, through 1/22.

GSG Fantasy Snowfall 2014
Brent Mike Pat Steve
93.9 100.3 71.2 61.6
Starters (Full Credit)
Erie 21.2 Boston 21.7 Buffalo 30.3 Akron 9.6
Lansing 17.5 Madison 7.1 Cleveland 14.6 Grand Rapids 20.9
Milwaukee 13.5 Pittsburgh 10.3 Green Bay 12.1 Hartford 9.8
Worcester 18.9 Rochester(NY) 16.7 Salt Lake City 8.3 Minneapolis 11.6
Syracuse 17.7 Syracuse 17.7
Total 88.8 Total 73.5 Total 65.3 Total 51.9
Bench (Half Credit)
Denver 6.4 Ann Arbor 27.1 Rochester(MN) 9.0 Anchorage 9.2
Sioux Falls 3.7 Flint 26.4 Spokane 2.8 Billings 10.1
Total 5.1 Total 26.8 Total 5.9 Total 9.7

In this season’s contest, all four competitors are given the option to start Syracuse for one month as a bonus 5th starter. Brent and Mike have used that option for January, while Pat and Steve have it for either February or March.

Continuing the theme from the last update, the December winner is trailing big this month, while the fourth place finish in December is still in the lead in January. Mike’s big snow-getters are on the bench, but it’s still enough for now. Buffalo is this month’s top snow city for the month, but Lake Erie is freezing up a lot. How will that impact the rest of the way?

On February 1st, we’ll find out who January’s big winner is, how the overall standings have changed, and who the starters are for February. Stay tuned!

Hello Snowy Chicago and Buh Bye Anchorage, Alaska

Posted by Patrick on January 22, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

I just got a Full update in and take a look at Chicago, Illinois jumping into the top 10 snowiest cities. I’ll have to take a look back but I can’t remember Chicago ever being in the top 10 since we started the contest unless it was maybe in the very beginning of the snow season. Better yet they knocked Anchorage, Alaska out of the top 10. Who would have ever thought that would happen? Right now Chicago is camping out in the #7 slot on the snow mountain. Chicago’s normal snowfall to date should be 16.9 inches, right now they are at 45.4 inches on the season. This time last season they had a snow total of 1.3 inches. Chicago is only a handful of inches away from having 4 feet of snow more than this time last season. Chicago, Chicago, Way to Go Chicago ;)

Now let’s talk about the snow storm that hit a good part of the eastern coast yesterday and is just about out to sea now. Several cities have climbed up the Golden Snow Globe snow mountain this last update but there is still more climbing to do. Most of the new snowfall is from yesterday so we will still have a lot of snow to add to cities like Boston, Worcester, Mass and some of the other cities I’m sure. Plus, Some of the cities weren’t updated for the fact that NOAA is having some problems with the website so I couldn’t get to them. The only cities that may effect the top ten (Until Boston & Worcester snow stats come in) that I can see is Grand Rapids which is showing MM and means that any new snow wasn’t updated for yesterday and Ann Arbor, Michigan. There is a chance that both could jump a spot.

Here are the stand out cities from the storm so far that broke date records. BTW, my brother lives in Philly and shovels a couple of his older neighbors driveways for them. I just talked to him and he said he will be shoveling all day. Kind of feels good today living in snowless Syracuse, New York ;)

* Philadelphia, PA reported 13.5 inches of snow yesterday breaking the date record of 3.4 inches of snow set way back in 1917.

* Central Park in NYC – 11.0 inches breaking the date record of 6.0 inches going back to 2001

* Newark, NJ – 10.0 inches of snow breaking the date record of 4.5 inches set in 2011

* Cincinnati – 5.3 inches beating the old record of 3.8 set in 2007

* Baltimore, Maryland – 5.1 inches setting a new date record of 2.0 set in 1982

* Washington DC – 3.8 inches of new snowfall breaking the record of 3.5 set in 1982

I’ll be doing another update of some sort when the new stats come out later to see what Boston, Worcester and a couple of the other cities have to report for today. Stay Tuned and have a Great Day All!!

This Eastern/North East Snowstorm Could Make Things Exciting

Posted by Patrick on January 21, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

I just got off the phone with my brother in Philly not too long ago and he said it was coming down pretty good. He guessed about 5-6 inches of snow so far. I’ve been watching the radar and started thinking that this could get interesting by the time the storm pulls out.

I don’t see any of the cities catching Erie, PA right now but this new snow storm may bring several more cities within striking distance of the top cities, perhaps just another storm or two away from getting to the top of the snow mountain. I’m seeing expected snow totals by the end of tomorrow for places like Boston, Mass, Philadelphia, PA and other cities anywhere in the 8 – 16 inch range along with the possibility of blizzard conditions in some areas.

What I don’t like is that it is missing us here in Syracuse and in most of NY and I don’t think Erie is suppose to see much either. The storm seems to be moving slower than expected and also seems to be holding on to the same direction, Northwest staying over some of the cities like Philly. Take a slow moving storm that is covering a lot of area and staying on the same path and we could be seeing some decent snow totals come tomorrow.

That said, keep in mind I am not a meteorologist and normally don’t have a clue so if you are in the cities getting hit by this snow storm check with the PROS, your local meteorologists and the National Weather Service. Those are the folks who know their stuff ;)

I’m going to try and get a full update done in a little while or should I say when the stats start coming out. Most of the snow stats right now are still from yesterday so I am going to hang on until NOAA starts posting some of the snow stats from the snow that has fallen so far today. Stay Tuned :)

Snow Champ Syracuse, NY Drops Down The Snow Mountain

Posted by Patrick on January 18, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Syracuse, New York continues to slide down the snow mountain dropping another spot this update. Erie, PA has to be loving it considering the big comeback that Syracuse made at the very end of the season to go ahead of both Erie and Worcester, Massachusetts. Erie also gained some snow on the rest of us since the last update :(

Grand Rapids, Michigan slipped past Syracuse for the number 3 slot on the mountain knocking Da’Cuse down to number 4. All of the top 10 snowiest cities managed to stay in the top 10 this round. That could change come tomorrow with it snowing today in some of the Golden Snow Globe cities including here in the Syracuse area.

Is it snowing in your city today? How about in Erie, Buffalo, Rochester or any of the other cities? Give us an update in this post if you have a minute to let us know what’s happening in your neck of the woods ;) Taking a rough guess I’m thinking about 4 – 5 inches so far here in the Syracuse area with light snow still falling. Sure beats the cloudy, gloomy, rainy days we have been having.

Enough for now and it’s almost time for what should be a good college basketball game between Pitt and Syracuse. Good Luck Pitt but Let’s Go Orange ;)