Minneapolis, Minnesota Throwing Snowballs at Syracuse, NY

Posted by Patrick on December 12, 2010
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , .

Top 10 Updated 12/13 2 AM – Just a heads up that I took a fast look at some of the cities and not all of them. Madison, Wisconsin broke into the top 10 as of now but again that’s not checking all of the cities. I’ll see if I can find a couple of hours tomorrow to get a full update in again.

If you haven’t heard yet several cities in Minnesota have been getting pounded with snow the last day or two. It looks like Minneapolis, Minnesota is picking a snowball fight with the leader of the national snow contest Syracuse, New York. There won’t be any battles happening on the football field between Minnesota and New York in Minneapolis though for the fact that the Metrodome’s roof collapsed. Kind of ironic I think as Minnesota is challenging a New York team in the snow race and were suppose to play the New York Giants today :) but it was canceled because of the snow.

It should get pretty close when all the snow is reported from Minneapolis. Right now the stats just reflect what has fallen since yesterday. It’s raining in the Syracuse area so they won’t be adding any snow stats most likely until Monday or Tuesday trying to grab some from the same storm that sledded Minneapolis back toward the top. All of the top 10 managed to hold on but there was quite a bit of shuffling this last update.

We were finally able to get a full update in so all of the cities should be up to date with the latest NOAA stats. I’ll try to get another top 10 update in later tonight to see if Minneapolis was able to take down Syracuse.

Here are a few cities that stood out this last update because of how far the records went back:

Minneapolis, MN set a date record with 16.3 inches of snow breaking the old record of 5.2 inches set in 1909

Green Bay, WI set a record with 6.5 inches breaking the old snow record of 5.2 set in 1893

Sioux Falls, SD had 7.6 inches of snow breaking the old record of 5.0 that dated back to 1903.

Have a Great Day All!!!

Some Syracuse Snow Stats

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on December 9, 2010
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , .

Good luck saying that title 5 times fast! :)

I posted this on goldensnowball.com, but I figured it would be worthwhile to have on here as well.

According to the National Weather Service, the storm produced the fourth highest snowfall totals in any four day period on record. Below are the top 4 four day totals, with the last date in the four day period in parenthesis.

44.6 inches (2/1/1966)
44.5 inches (3/14/1993)
44.3 inches (1/31/1966)
43.2 inches (12/8/2010)

I find it a bit interesting that the three higher amounts are all in the later portion of the season. So, in other words, this the highest amount of snow Syracuse has ever had in a four day period this early in the season.

It was also the 6th highest 5 day total, and the 5th highest 3 day total.

It snowed continuously from 6:16 AM December 4th to 8:10 AM December 8th. That’s a total of 97 hours and 54 minutes.

By the way, Winter has not officially begun yet. That’s December 21st, almost 2 weeks away.

On another note, I will try to get an update on the driest and wettest cities done this weekend. I fell a little bit behind with that lately, so I’ll try to make it up soon.

Snow Pictures and Video From the Syracuse Area

Posted by Patrick on December 8, 2010
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , .

First off I’m going to try and get an update in a little later tonight. Probably just the top 10 but maybe a full update.

Here are a few pictures and a video from today in the Syracuse area. Actually about 5 miles outside of Syracuse. The snow has been coming down pretty much non stop now for several days. Loving every bit of it except for the shoveling :)

Snow All Around the US – Snowiest US City Updated 12/6

Posted by Patrick on December 6, 2010
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , .

12/7 – We just did a top 10 update as of 10:30 am :)

OK, all of the Golden Snow Globe cities have been updated and posted as of late 12/6. Quite a few changes in the line up but Spokane, Washington managed to hang on and that’s without them adding to their snow totals. They won’t last long. The northeast made out the best this last update and come tomorrow there will be some more changes.

One thing to keep in mind is that when I am checking the snow stats at NOAA the times of the last update for certain cities varies by as much as 8 – 10 hours. An example would be that Syracuse’s snow stats came out at around 10 PM but Buffalo hasn’t given an update since around 4:00. So there is a good chance that Buffalo may be ahead of Syracuse. Different NOAA weather stations post at different times. That said I’ll try to get a top 10 update in tomorrow so stay tuned :)

Have a great week all and drive careful – See Snow – Drive Slow!

Let The National Golden Snow Globe Snow Games Begin

Posted by Patrick on December 2, 2010
Posted in: All US Snow Cities.

Yeah, Yeah I know they probably began a month a go and I’m dropping the snowball big time. No doubt about that. Well it’s time to start up the Golden Snow Globe contest for the 2010 – 2011 snow season and all the stats have finally been updated. Will Syracuse be a repeat snow champion or will the second national snow contest have a new winner? I don’t have a clue but I’ll bet it will be another fun winter season. I see Stephen was at least making some posts and I love the Thanksgiving forecast :)

I had to double and triple check some of the cities near the top so far. When you look you’re probably going to be as surprised as I was to see what city leads the contest. Maybe not but last season the were second from bottom and now they have a pretty good start on a lot of the other golden snow globe cities. As always, we’ll try to get in as many updates as we can but remember it takes about 2 – 3 hours for each update.

Here in the Syracuse area it’s been slow as far as snow goes and we are looking to break our longest period without at least an inch of snow falling in a day. The 2010 – 2011 snow season for Syracuse is already the second longest we have ever gone so now is the time to take advantage and get a head start on us. Good Luck all and let’s hope we all have as much fun as last season. We are always open to suggestions so feel free to post them. You can post your comments on pretty much any post we make even though it may say no comment. That just means that no one has made one yet on the post.

Have a Safe Fun Winter Season and remember “See Snow – Drive Slow” unless you’re on a sled of course :) )

A Thanksgiving Forecast

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on November 20, 2010
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: .

I thought it would be fitting to share A Thanksgiving Forecast, given that it’s just about that time of the year.

Turkeys will thaw in the morning, then warm in the oven to an afternoon high near 190 F. The kitchen will turn hot and humid, and if you bother the cook, be ready for a severe squall or cold shoulder.

During the late afternoon and evening, the cold front of a knife will slice through the turkey, causing an accumulation of one to two inches on plates. Mashed potatoes will drift across one side while cranberry sauce creates slippery spots on the other. Please pass the gravy.

A weight watch and indigestion warning have been issued for the entire area, with increased stuffiness around the beltway. During the evening, the turkey will diminish and taper off to leftovers, dropping to a low of 34 F in the refrigerator.

Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, high pressure to eat sandwiches will be established. Flurries of leftovers can be expected both days with a 50 percent chance of scattered soup late in the day. We expect a warming trend where soup develops. By early next week, eating pressure will be low as the only wish left will be the bone.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Driest and Wettest Major U.S. Cities Update 11/07

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on November 8, 2010
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , .

Before I get into the top 5 driest and wettest U.S. major cities, here’s a brief idea of how I collected the data. First, the cities must have a population size of 100,000 or more. Second, populations are not added for a site that has multiple city names. For example, Seattle-Tacoma just goes as Seattle for this list, and just uses the Seattle population to determine if it is a major city. Also, the city must have an official National Weather Service reporting site. Finally, if a city has multiple NWS sites, I use the one that seems to be the most official, usually the one that is listed first on the NWS observed weather reports pages. If you have any questions/comments about my method, feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Now for the lists. Data is from November 7th.

Driest Major U.S. Cities
Rank City Precipitation
1 Las Vegas, NV 4.12
2 Honolulu, HI 5.26
3 Bakersfield, CA 5.84
4 El Paso, TX 6.51
5 Palmdale, CA 7.31

Wettest Major U.S. Cities
Rank City Precipitation
1 San Juan, PR 78.67
2 Miami, FL 63.76
3 Fort Lauderdale, FL 58.27
4 Wilmington, NC 54.39
5 Mobile, AL 54.31

I’ll try to get updates going each week depending on how the statistics change.

Have a great week everyone!

Just a Reminder…

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on November 5, 2010
Posted in: Uncategorized.

If you had been celebrating Daylight Saving Time in North America, remember to change your clocks back one hour this weekend.

Since it is November, I’m sure we’ll begin tracking snowfall for the 2010-11 season very soon. Will Syracuse repeat, or will a different city take the title of snowiest major U.S. city? Stay with Golden Snow Globe throughout the season to see which cities start off on top and if they can stay there for the season.

In addition, one of my personal goals is to have updates on the wettest and driest major U.S. cities. If all goes well, I should be able to get an update up this weekend. I plan on posting the top 5 of each every weekend from now until the end of the year, when the stats are reset. Once 2011 begins, those updates will be less frequent.

Also, don’t forget about the Golden Snowball contest, which involves five of the Upstate New York cities Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the upcoming snow season!

Some Syracuse Snow Shots

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on May 16, 2010
Posted in: Snow Pictures and Gallery. Tagged: , .

With Pat’s decision to unofficially officially call the contest over and Syracuse the inaugural champion, I thought it might be fun to post some of my pictures from the season.

If you recall, the early part of the season, Syracuse was lagging behind in the standings. The picture below, taken on New Year’s Eve, tells that story quite well.
December Snow
Indeed, there is some snow, but not as much as we’re used to for that time of year.

Let’s fast forward the look back to February. For those of you who don’t know, I work part time on late nights, often getting home well after 3 AM. For the most part, it’s not too bad traveling. The worst part in the winter is typically getting home as more often than not, the roads (including the highways) are not in the best shape in the very early morning hours. In late February, Syracuse was stuck with a record breaking snowfall, and I could not get to work. I tried to, but after about 3 miles, the snow proved to be too much, and I conceded defeat and retreated home. The next few photos show the conditions at about the time I would have gotten home, had I somehow managed to arrive at work.
February Snow 1February Snow 2
Yeah, that would not have been fun to experience.

That day, and the day after, most (if not all) the area schools were closed. I don’t remember a time in the past decade when the schools were shut down for 2 straight days. The only other event that I can recall is the Blizzard of ’93, and that is going back a ways. A couple of pictures show the morning scene (when the busses would have likely arrived).
February Snow 3February Snow 4
I wouldn’t want the busses out in that either, so let the kids (and adults) enjoy the snow for the day.

From one extreme to the other, April started out with record breaking heat. This led to another occurrence I don’t remember too often in the Syraucse area…cherry blossoms in mid-April.
Mid April Cherry Blossoms
The end of Winter? Hardly.

As it turned out, Syracuse Winter had one last gasp on Mother’s Day weekend. It wasn’t much, but the early morning hours featured some snow flakes. Unfortunately, I was unable to get pictures of the event.

Have a great week everyone! By the way, if you have some snow pictures, feel free to send us some. Uh…the pictures, not the snow. :) Details are available here.