Just a Heads Up - this website may be going offline for a little while after today. With costs going up with hosting and other related costs not to mention the time put into it I had to add the Pay Pal donation button on the site this season, sorry about that.  Hopefully the site won’t be down no longer than a day or two. We will try and get it back up ASAP.

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I was seeing a lot of coverage on the snow that Erie has been getting so I decided to do a top 10 update. Erie, Pa received something like 16.3 inches of snow on january 21st and I was curious if they picked up enough snow to sled past Syracuse. They came close and are less than a couple of inches away from taking over the top spot on the snow mountain.

It’s been snowing a little in the Syracuse area but most of the lake effect snow bands have been hanging just miles to the north of them in places like Oswego, Fulton and other towns to the north. Those cities and town have picked up 2 feet plus of snow lucky them ;) Erie, Pennsylvania still has some decent snow in their forecast for the next few days as does Syracuse so it will be interesting to see if Syracuse can hold on or if Erie slips past them. I’ll try and keep up with it and post it here if someone knocks Da’Cuse down the mountain.

Here are some good stats that has the snowfall records for Erie, Pa broken down by the month. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/climate/eri/records/eritop10snow.html

It seems like every update the snow contest has a few more cities that close in on the leaders this season. This update was no different with Anchorage and Salt Lake City gaining with their recent snowfall. I did have to finally make a call to the the National Weather Service station that does the stats for Spokane and unfortunately those of you from Spokane are probably going to be mad at me :( Be nice, it’s not my call, show a little pity and NO I’m not trying to cook the books or in this case melt your snow away. OK, if you have to vent feel free to and I will try to take it like the sissy man that I am ;)

Here is the controversy to this seasons snow contest so far. The problem I have had with the Spokane, Washington snow stats is I didn’t notice at first that there are two places that report the snow for Spokane. One is at the Airport and the other is at the National Weather Service station. The place I have been reporting the snow totals from was the NWS station thinking they would be the more official stats. Turns out I was wrong and when I saw that there was another place in Spokane that reported their snow stats, the Airport I decided to call them and see which stats I should be using.

I called the Spokane National Weather Service and talked to Steven Van Horn, a really nice guy who was very informative about the locations in Spokane. I asked him which reports I should be using and he advised me that the snow stats from the airport are the official snow stats that they go by. Not the answer I wanted to hear for the fact that I have been giving Spokane the higher totals from the NWS station. Not what I wanted to hear but at least we have the right place to get the snow stats from now. The official snow stats! Thanks for taking the time and for the great information Steven.

With that said, Syracuse was able to stay on top of the snow mountain with less than a couple of inches separating them from second on the list, Salt Lake City, Utah. They managed to pick up enough snow to move up and even with the change for Spokane they managed to take the third place spot on the snow mountain. Last seasons champs, Anchorage moved up a few spots and let’s hope they don’t have a record season like they did last season or we all may be in trouble.

Buffalo received enough snow to get into the top 10 knocking Madison, Wisconsin out of the top 10. All in all this is a pretty close race with quite a few cities just a storm or two away from taking the lead. Let’s hope it stays this close right to the end.

Have a Super Week All and As Always – See Snow Drive Slow!

With the first 2 weeks almost wrapped up in the Fantasy Snowfall contest, I thought I’d give a quick look at the results so far. Totals are through 1/12/12 and sleepers are in italics.

GSG Fantasy Snowfall 2013 January Update
Pat Steve
18.00 16.35
Starters (Full Credit)
Buffalo, NY 1.0 Anchorage, AK 0.7
Erie, PA 1.0 Madison, WI 0.0
Spokane, WA 11.0 Rochester, NY 3.9
Syracuse, NY 4.1 Salt Lake City, UT 10.4
Pueblo, CO 0.0 South Bend, IN 0.1
Total 17.1 Total 15.1
Bench (Half Credit)
Fort Collins, CO 0.5 Cleveland, OH 0.0
Green Bay, WI 0.2 Denver, CO 1.4
St. Paul, MN 0.9 Des Moines, IA 0.1
Worcester, MA 0.2 Minneapolis, MN 1.0
Newark, NJ 0.0 Boston, MA 0.0
Total 0.90 Total 1.25

So far this month, Pat has played this as well as he could: the four regular starters all have more snowfall than his four regular bench. On the other hand, I have two on the bench with more snow than two of my starters. So I am not at the maximum I could have had up to this point. For what’s it’s worth, I’d still be trailing, but not by as much. Also of note, South Bend has the most of the four sleepers with 0.1.

The first quarter warps up at the end of the month. By which time Pat and I will have our starting line ups for February all set.

It can’t get any closer than this other than a tie in the national snow contest.  Right now it’s Syracuse, New York by a snowflake over Spokane, Washington.  Just 0.1 separates the two cities this last update and there is still a lot of cities within reach of both of them.

Rochester, NY is climbing the snow mountain moving up to the number 5 spot on the mountain.  There really wasn’t a lot of shuffling this last update.  Some of the cities from Michigan added to their snow totals but they are still down the mountain quite a ways.

One thing I do have to do is find out which snow stats I should be using for Spokane, Washington.  They have 2 different reporting stations with the National Weather Service and the totals are pretty far apart.  One is at the National Weather Service and the other is at their airport.  I’ll get a hold of them this week and see what they say.

Have and Awesome Night All ;)

First off a Happy New Year to All of Our Visitors ;)

Syracuse has taken over the top spot on the snow mountain this last update. Just a week or so ago they were at 3 inches on the season but added another 33 inches to move into first place and be the first city to hit the yard of snow mark. After the 3 days of shoveling this guys back decided to slip out so I’m kind of hoping for a little bit of a break from shoveling. Yeah, I’m a sissy man and you would think living in the snowiest big city (pop 100,000 or more) I would have a snow blower after all of these years. Maybe next season ;)

A lot of the cities added some new snow to their totals. I think all but about 3 – 4 cites had some new snowfall to add up. Ohio, Rhode Island and Connecticut seemed to be the states on the move upward on the Golden Snow Globe mountain. Colorado is still pretty quiet and so was last years snow champ Anchorage, Alaska.

Looking across the country there is still some cold air spread out all around the US. That could make for another interesting update come the next update. What I’m still liking is the fact that it’s really early in the 2012 – 2013 snow season and there are quite a few cities still within striking distance of the top spot. Good Luck and Way to Go Syracuse! Hay, way to go Syracuse football and basketball and it will be interesting to see if Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim can pass Bobby Knight’s record tonight with win over Rutgers for win number 903. Good Luck coach B and thanks for the 50 years at SU.

Have a Great Week All and Drive Careful :)

Happy New Year everyone!

To celebrate the start of 2013, Pat and I thought it would be fun to do a fantasy snowfall competition (with inspiration from weather.com). For this year, it will be between the two of us, but we hope that in the future we can expand. We have a few ideas for that in mind, but for now welcome to Golden Snow Globe’s Fantasy Snowfall 2013!

Here’s how it works for this year. A few days ago Pat and I drafted 10 cities. Before the start of each month, we have to decide which 5 we want to be our starters, and which 5 to be on the bench. Starters get full credit, while bench are half. The team with the most snowfall at the end of April wins!

But of course, there is a catch. We must start all 10 cities at least once, and each city must be on the bench at least once. In addition, we each have 2 sleepers. These are cities that as of the 12/28 update were outside the top 25. The sleepers must each be used twice. We each can have both sleepers as starters in one month (but not necessarily the same month), in which case, 6 starters would be allowed.

So, without further ado, here are the teams for 2013! Note: This month’s starters are in bold.

GSG Fantasy Snowfall 2013 Teams
Pat Steve
Sleepers
Newark, NJ Boston, MA
Pueblo, CO South Bend, IN
Buffalo, NY Anchorage, AK
Erie, PA Cleveland, OH
Fort Collins, CO Denver, CO
Green Bay, WI Des Moines, IA
Spokane, WA Madison, WI
St. Paul, MN Minneapolis, MN
Syracuse, NY Rochester, NY
Worcester, MA Salt Lake City, UT

Again, we’re just basically playing around with this for 2013. Whether we keep all these rules (or add new ones) in the future is to be determined. Though, the more people/teams we have in the future the less cities will be on a team.

I’ll try to do updates twice a month. We hope you enjoy following along!

By the way, what does your calendar say? If it’s 2012, it’s time to get a new one! So why not check some out at buywallcalendars.com? You’ll get a good deal and help support the site. Thanks! :)

The big 3 from New York, Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester climbed quite a ways up the snow mountain but Spokane, Washington had a few more flakes to take over the King of the Mountain spot from Anchorage. Way to go Spokane!!!

All of the cities are up to date and it’s looking like it will be a close and fun race to the end of the 2012 – 2013 snow season. That last storm that just passed through helped out the New York cities dropping about a foot of snow on them give or take a bit. Several of the other cities also were able to jump into storm Euclid. Anchorage was quiet since the last update which gave some of us a chance to catch up.

It will be interesting to see if Spokane can hold on to the crown come the next update. The losers this update I would have to say were the Twin Cities in which both of them dropped out of the top 10 this week.

Have an Awesome Weekend All and a Happy New Year :)

Just a heads up – I know everyone is waiting for an update and I’m just as curious as all of you are as to how much snow all of the Golden Snow Globe cities have. There is a good storm moving across several states so I figure once all of those totals get reported I’ll get an update in. Should be within the next 24 hours give or take a bit.

In the words of President Reagan, “Well, Here They Go Again”. Anchorage pulled a sneak snowball attack on most of us since the stats were last updated. I was a little worried checking their snow stats the first update but they were way off their normals for the season so I thought last years snow champs just had a fluke of a season in 2011-2012. I received an email from Charles of Alaska curious as to when the next update may be. For good reason he was curious because they piled on some decent snow totals the last week or so. They jumped from 6th place with just 6.7 inches all the way up to being king of the snow mountain with the new snow total for Anchorage at 22.8 inches and probably climbing. WTG AK ;)

They do have some competition though and it’s Salt Lake City and the Twin Cities did pretty good this last week. Salt Lake City did get knocked of the top of the mountain but still slipped in enough snow to stay right behind Anchorage. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul went from less than an inch of snow to over a foot of snow now keeping in striking distance of last years champions.

I’m starting to think that this season is going to come down to the end of the season with probably several lead changes. Let’s hope it turns out like that to keep it exciting. As far as the North East goes it’s still pretty pitiful so far this season but it’s starting to look like some cold air may be coming around this week. The big question is will it stick around for the season?

What’s you thoughts on which city you think will be the champs this season? Leave a comment in this post as to how you think this season will pan out. Just click the bubble to comment.

Have an AWESOME weekend everyone ;)

First off there has been some crazy weather already this season so some help is needed. There are most likely a few cities that aren’t listed here that have gotten snow this season. If you live in a city with a population of 100,000 or more and have gotten some snow please let us know and most likely we will add you to the lineup. Thanks :)

Yeah I know, it’s about time huh. I’m starting a little bit later than normal but other than a few cities there hasn’t been a whole lot as far as snowfall goes going on. Of course I was just as curious as the rest of you to see how things are starting out so far for the 2012 – 2013 snow season. The snow stats have just been updated and the rankings for the cities are pretty interesting so far.

Anchorage, Alaska who kicked but last season is starting out pretty lame this season. I think this is the least amount of snow I have seen for Anchorage in the last couple of years of keeping the snow stats for the Golden Snowball Contest. Congrats to them once again though for a great snow 2011 – 2012 snow season. I’m a big fan of Gold Rush Alaska and it was pretty cool after keeping track of the snow in AK last season to watch the first episode of the show this year. Just to see all of the snow on the ground and the problems it was causing for all of the crews trying to get started digging and clearing the snow and ice off. If you get a chance it’s an awesome show IMO and worth checking out.

When you look at the snow stats you will see 2 numbers. The first is what place the city is in right now and the 2nd is how they placed last season. I know we are just beginning but I was surprised with a few of the cities that are in the top ten and just as surprised at a few that dropped way down from the top 10 snowiest cities with a population of 100,000 or more.

Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah take the top 2 spots on the snow mountain moving up quite a few spots from how they ended last season. Bridgeport, Connecticut, Newark, NJ and New York City are also off to a great start. Other than those the North East has been pretty quiet so far including here in Syracuse. Rochester, NY, Grand Rapids, Michigan and South Bend Indiana are the slackers so far this season. No need to worry though about those cities because you know they will be moving up the snow mountain some time soon. It’s only just begun and let’s hope it’s an exciting snow contest right to the end :)

Have a Great Weekend Everyone!!!