Updated 11/20 - Just a quick post to say Congrats to Anchorage, Alaska for being the first Big city with a pop of 100,000 or more to be the first city to join the 1 foot of snow club this season. It should be interesting to see if any of the other cities will join you now that some cold air is around. WTG Anchorage
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11/19 – OK, Compared to last season at this time, a lot of the Big cities in the snowiest city in the US contest have less snow so far to date. There are a handful of cities that really stand out and a few that have less than a foot, almost 2 feet less snow than they did last year at this time in the snow season.
Grand Rapids, Michigan as of yesterday is only showing a Trace of snow so far for the 2015-2016 snow season. Last season at this time they had 23.4 inches of snowfall at this time. If it seems like a nice Winter season so far for you folks in Grand Rapids, it is. Almost two feet of snow behind the 2014-2015 season
Erie, Pennsylvania which only has a Trace of snow also so far looked like they were going for a repeat win last season starting out strong with 17.8 inches of snow at this time last season. Erie, Pa was competitive as always but too many storms, lake effect events just missed them. If it wasn’t for the near misses Erie’s totals probably would have been a couple feet higher by the end of the season. Stop slacking Erie and get it going. You have 17+ inches to catch up to last season
South Bend Indiana also started out really strong at the beginning of last season. South Bend had 17 inches of snow by now. Right now South Bend is reporting just a Trace of snowfall this season also.
A couple others who are dragging this season are Cleveland, Ohio and Boise, Idaho. Cleveland had 9.4 inches of snow last season compared to 0.1 inches so far this season. Boise had 7.6 inches about this time in the 2014-2016 snow season compared to 0.8 inches of snow as of yesterday.
The list goes on and on with cities in the Golden Snow Globe contest that are below the amount of snow that they had last season at this time. In fact most of the cities are behind what their average snowfall shoulf be for this time of the year. I have a feeling that several of the cities will be catching up in the next week or so though with some cold air moving into some of the cities. Stay Tuned Click Here for Current Snow Totals!
Snowvember, One Year Anniversary of Epic Snow in Buffalo – Surrounding Area
It all started one year ago, an epic snow event that hit parts of the Buffalo area and other surrounding Western New York cities. Below is a great look back that was sent to me by Richard Hulburd who lives in Hamburg, New York.
Richard sent me what it was like to be in the thick of the snow storm. He also sent some great information including the Buffalo National Weather Synopsis of the storm. Richard put together a great video that plays out the Snowvember snowstorm which includes some really cool pictures that he gathered from different sources as the snow was falling. A BIG Thanks Richard for taking the time. Everything below was put together by Richard Hulburd from Hamburg, NY.
November 2014 Lake Effect Snow Storm Video, Buffalo New York
Richard’s Story Lake Effect Snow Storm Buffalo, Hamburg, NY
I drove home from training right by the Airport on the 17th and on the way home the snow from the low-pressure system was just ended. The total from that storm was around an inch. After I got home the band really started to get going. I went to the gym and on the way home the roads were already getting bad. I always go lake effect chasing so decided to attempt to go out in it and see how strong the band was and to visit the Weather Channel who were in the town of Hamburg about 2 1/2 miles away. I got about a mile and decided to turn around. I have driven in some heavy snow, but this was something else. I could not see anything at all, literally… Between 9 and 1 am I received 18 inches of snow. The snow continued overnight as I went on several walks outside in the heart of the band.
The following day the band continued producing rates of 3-5 inches an hour on average. The total from round 1 at my location was 50″. Round 2 was not as intense as round one but still very strong. I went for several walks around Hamburg and posted videos on my Youtube channel for the entire duration of the event. I was in contact with several meteorologists’ from NBC, CNN, and The Weather Channel that used my Youtube videos to show others how crazy this event was. During round 2 I was able to go on the I90 New York State Thruway and walked down the middle of it. It was so awesome! It was a surreal scene with just the snow banks, snowfall rates, and the calmness that I felt as I walked there alone. It is something I will never forget!
As we walked around during the course of the event the people we met were in such good spirits despite what was going on. We saw loads of people walking back with beer and food and the store shelves were completely empty.
Towards the end of the event, I received some staggering snowfall rates of up to 6-7″ per hour. In total received 38.5″ from round 2 for a 3 day total of 88.5″ for the event. It was very difficult to keep accurate totals for this event, but I was in a prime location for the heaviest totals. Definitely an event that i will never forget and tell my grandkids about.
First Event November 17-18th 2014
The epic November 17-19th 2014 lake effect event will be remembered as one of the most significant winter events in Buffalo’s snowy history. Over 5 feet of snow fell over areas just east of Buffalo, with mere inches a few miles away to the north. There were 13 fatalities with this storm, hundreds of major roof collapses and structural failures, 1000s of stranded motorists, and scattered food and gas shortages due to impassable roads. Numerous trees also gave way due to the weight of the snow, causing isolated power outages. While this storm was impressive on its own, a second lake effect event on Nov-19-20 dropped another 1-4 feet of snow over nearly the same area and compounded rescue and recovery efforts. Storm totals from the two storms peaked at nearly 7 feet, with many areas buried under 3-4 feet of dense snowpack by the end of the event.
The storm began Monday around 6 PM evening (Nov 17) as a band of snow developed over the Buffalo Southtowns and quickly moved into the Northtowns with thunder and lightning. However, the band settled south fairly quickly…and by 9 PM the band had moved mostly just south of the city and airport and locked in place as the 15-20 mile wide band centered on a line from Lackawanna and Hamburg ENE across West Seneca, Lancaster, and Alden.
The northern edge of the lake effect band was so striking that many described it as a wall of snow. Snow rates on the northern edge easily exceeded 3 inches per hour with some snow rates near 6 inches per hour. By sunrise, some areas had already exceeded 3 feet of snow. This occurred in under 12 hours. Meanwhile, the southern edge of the band was located along the Lake Erie shoreline in Chautauqua County to near the Southtowns, including Orchard Park, East Aurora, and east into Wyoming county including Attica where about a foot of snow had fallen by sunrise. Travel across the Southtowns was nearly impossible with most roads unplowed as plows, at least those that weren’t stuck, focused a few main roadways needed for emergency vehicles. The Thruway was was shut down from the PA border to Rochester, and other routes, including 190, 290, and 400 were also shut down.
During Tuesday, November 18, the snow band didn’t budge, and by nightfall snow amounts from Lancaster to Southern Cheektowaga east to Alden had accumulated in excess of 4 to 5 feet by the end of the day. The wall of snow was still quite apparent with blue skies to the north and zero visibility on the other side. On Transit Road, there were only a few inches on the ground at Genesee Street, but several feet of snow at Walden Avenue less than 2 miles to the south. Winds gusted to 35 mph…and briefly gusted higher along the edges of the band…but in general winds created sub-blizzard conditions. There were still whiteout conditions however as snow continued to fall in excess of 3 inches per hour.
The band began to waver a little to the south Tuesday night…but overall continued in a slightly weaker state over the southtowns. Finally, the band let up as it drifted to the north and weakened rapidly Wednesday morning.
East of Lake Ontario, a lake band developed south of Watertown Monday night, then drifted north across the city and ENE to Harrisville. This band produced stronger winds than its Lake Erie counterpart, with gusts mostly in the 40-50 mph range with a peak gust to 55 mph at Watertown, producing blizzard conditions at times. By Tuesday night the band settled south over the Tug Hill Plateau, then quickly moved north Wednesday morning. Storm totals were highly variable, with snow amounts generally ranging between 1-2 feet in the hardest hit areas.
A very favorable climatological pattern for heavy lake effect snow was in place over the lower Great Lakes Wednesday and Thursday, Nov 19 and 20, as a deep closed H5 low was centered near the Michigan Straits while anomalously cold air was over the upper Ohio Valley and Mid West. At the surface, low pressure over the Upper Great Lakes Wednesday afternoon tracked across Southern Ontario to the Ottawa Valley by Thursday morning… then to the St Lawrence Valley by Thursday evening. This synoptic pattern circulated H85 temps of -14c across the lower Great Lakes to produce moderate to extreme instability over the relatively mild lake waters. The building instability was accompanied by a capping inversion that rose from around 7k feet at the start of the event to around 15k feet at its peak. This was all very conducive for the second straight lake effect event in less than 48 hours.
Starting with the activity off Lake Erie
Lake effect snow blossomed over Eastern Lake Erie and Southern Ontario Wednesday evening on a 220 flow. Cloud to ground lightning was noted near Long Point near the onset of the activity. As the cold air deepened and low level winds veered to 240, the lake band pivoted east and aligned itself with Lake Erie, allowing it to take full advantage of heat and moisture fluxes from the full fetch of the lake. The somewhat cellular band intensified into a solid plume of moderate to heavy lake snow, producing more thundersnow (in the Buffalo area) process. In the vicinity of the lightning, dual pol imagery depicted a wealth of graupel around 4k feet (nr -10c), which just happened to be in the heart of the mixed phase portion of the lake cloud. The band temporarily settled south to the Chautauqua County lake shore to the Buffalo Southtown’s to Southern Genesee County by midnight…very close to the where the momentous lake snow storm took place 24 to 48 hours earlier.
During the overnight, the band drifted back north to the Buffalo metropolitan area with enhanced cells producing another round of thunder snow. Unlike the epic event of the previous couple days, this snow band oscillated back and forth for the remainder of the event…drifting south by daybreak across Southern Erie County (about 10 miles south of the heaviest snow from the previous storm) and extending across Wyoming County before arching back to the north to the immediate southern suburbs of Buffalo for a couple hours Thursday afternoon.
The lake band was very well organized from late Wednesday night through much of Thursday, with IR satellite imagery indicating that there were abundant overshooting tops within the bands where some cloud tops (-35C) exceeded the cap by some 5k ft. The intensity of the band was also evident from the 2 to 4 inch per hour snowfall rates. This enabled the event to produce snowfall amounts of up to 4 feet across parts of Southern Erie County and Wyoming County. The moderate to heavy snow extended east across Livingston and Ontario counties as well…with accumulations approaching a foot over northern Livingston County. After the passage of a couple of reinforcing secondary cold fronts late Thursday afternoon and evening, the low level flow veered to the northwest, and this pushed the lake snows into the southern tier where increased shear and a shorter fetch broke the solid plume of snow into multiple bands. Snowfall amounts across the Western Southern Tier generally ranged from 6 to 12 inches with slightly higher amounts over the hilltops.
Off Lake Ontario
As is usually the case, the lake effect snow was 3 to 6 hours later in developing than that off Lake Erie. The band initially started over Kingston and parts of southern Quebec shortly after midnight Wednesday night, then as the 220 flow veered to 240 during the wee hours of the morning, the band shifted south and east across Jefferson County. By daybreak Thursday, twin bands of moderate to heavy snow were found east of Lake Ontario, with one centered over northernmost Jefferson County and the other over the northern slopes of the Tug Hill and northern Lewis County. As the southern band pushed south off the lake during the course of Thursday morning, the northern band drifted south to the northern slopes of the Tug Hill (southern Jefferson County to northern Lewis) where it remained nearly stationary through the course of the afternoon. Unlike the plume of heavy snow off Lake Erie, there was only limited lightning generated from the band off Lake Ontario, and that came over the Tug Hill Plateau. There is a suggestion that this lightning may have had some help from the orographic lift, as there was no lightning with the band when it was north or south of the Tug Hill.
A solid band of heavy lake snow was found over the Tug Hill Thursday evening, then the activity drifted south across Oswego and southernmost Lewis County during the remainder of the night. Snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches an hour helped to produce an average of a foot to a foot and half of snow within this band leading up to daybreak Friday…at which point the lake effect had weakened and become multi band in nature over Oswego and Northern Cayuga counties. The lake effect remained multi band in nature Southeast of Lake Ontario through midday Friday while continuing to weaken to nuisance lake streamers. Little additional snow accumulations were reported during the daylight hours Friday.
Snow Off Lake Erie
49.0 inches… Wales Center
48.0 inches… Marilla
47.5 inches… East Aurora
40.6 inches… Wyoming
10.7 inches… Buffalo airport
From a climatological perspective, the storm had signs of an unprecedented event early on, with historical analogs and climatological ensembles pointing to a rare if ever seen event over a 30 year climatology. 500 mb temperatures eventually dropped to -42C on the KBUF sounding Tuesday evening. With lake temperatures around 9C, lake induced equilibrium levels exceeded the 500mb level and maxed out near 20000’. Further up in the atmospheric column, the 200mb heights were lower than anything in recent memory. The more traditional 850mb temperature value of -15C was also on the lower edge of the climatological spectrum. From pattern recognition, this was a high confidence event…with “feet” of snow in the forecast over four days in advance. Data from the Saint Louis University CIPS (Cooperative Institute for Precipitation Systems) showed several analogs that matched 24 hour record snow events for Buffalo. Locally generated climatological analogs also showed that this event fit the bill for a significant event. The office had 56 hours lead time on a Lake Effect Watch and 32 hours lead time on a Warning. The office mentioned 3-5 inches per hour in the Warning prior to the start of the event and mentioned 2-3 feet forecast with additional significant amounts with the next event later in the week. Travel was forecast to become nearly impossible.
On a side note, this has happened before. During December 14-18, 1945. The airport measured nearly 37 inches with in excess of 70 inches just 4-6 miles south (Lancaster).
It may be a good time to place your bet as to whether it will be Anchorage, Alaska or Reno, Nevada in first place come the next update later on this afternoon. A big Thanks to Tyler for giving me the heads up on Reno, NV
Reno is showing 2.4 inches of snow for the new 2015 – 2016 snow season which is enough to slide them into the number 2 spot on the snow mountain. WTG Reno! According to Tyler it sounds like Reno will be adding to their totals once the overnight snow totals are reported later on. They are/were under a winter advisory until 10:00 am.
Reno, NV also set a snowfall record for the date which goes way, way back. Reno set the date record with 2.4 inches yesterday breaking the old record of 2.0 inches that was set back in 1915. Welcome to the Golden Snow Globe contest Reno and enjoy being near the top of the snow mountain while you can. The rest of the cities will be throwing snowballs at you pretty soon I’m sure.
Snowiest Top 5 Cities in the United States 2015 – 2016
Here it November 6th and we finally have a Top 5 list for the snowiest Big cities in the nation. The current list would have been from the end of the day on the 5th for most of the cities in the Golden Snow Globe contest.
Anchorage, Alaska continues to add to their lead and added another inch of snow since the last update. It seems like Anchorage either gets quite a bit of snow or next to nothing each season. Anchorage did win the snow contest back in the 2011 – 2012 snow season with 134.5 inches of snow.
Denver, Colorado slipped past Syracuse, New York picking up an inch of snow since the last update. That was the measurable snow for Denver this season. Syracuse is stuck at 0.4 inches right now and I’m sure that the temperatures being in the 70′s in the northeast has something to do with that. Record temps have been set the last few days for several cities in the northeast and I’m guessing they are in no hurry to stop breaking them.
Rochester, Minnesota remains in 4th place at 0.2 inches and the other newcomer to receive snow this season besides Denver is Cleveland, Ohio which is showing 0.1 inches so far for the 2015 – 2016 snow season. Welcome to the new snow season Denver and Cleveland. Cleveland’s snow may be an adjustment or an error because they weren’t showing snow as of the last update so that may change.
Golden Snow Globe Cities Below Average Snow
Almost all of the cities in the National Golden Snow Globe contest are below their average snowfall for this date, but I don’t expect that to last much longer. Remember, the National snow contest is for cities with a population of 100,000 or more as of the 2010 census. If you know of a Big city that we may be missing that has snow already this season then feel free to add a comment to this post and let me know
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Congrats to Syracuse, New York on being the second Big city with a population of 100,000 or more to get some snow for the new 2015 – 2016 snow season. Anchorage, Alaska started off this season’s snow contest a little while back picking up 2.8 inches of snow.
Syracuse, NY is reporting 0.4 inches for yesterday, 10/18 and although it isn’t a lot of snow it is enough to move them into second place in the Golden Snow Globe contest. A few smaller towns not too far from Syracuse received up to 9 inches of snow.
With the cold in the air, there were a lot of snowflakes falling, but so far Syracuse is the only city to report measurable snow in the last couple of days. If you know or hear of any other cities with a population of 100,000 or more please leave a comment here to let us know and Thanks
So after the last couple of days with the cold air that blew into the north and northeast we now have a bunch of cities that have received some snowflake to give them a trace of snow. 18 of the Golden Snow Globe cities are reporting at least a trace of snow. We are off to a good start and I have a feeling it’s going to be a fun snow contest once again this season
Anchorage, Alaska Starts 2015-2016 Golden Snow Globe Contest
Congrats Anchorage, Alaska on being the first Big city with a population of 100,000 or more to receive measurable snow. That can only mean one thing and like it or not the new 2015-2016 Golden Snow Globe contest has started up again. I hope everyone had a Great summer and maybe if we get lucky the summer will drag on into January. Don’t hold your breath though
Anchorage, AK which received 0.3 inches of snow on September 29th and added another 2.5 inches of snow on September 30th for a total 2.8 inches of snow for the 2015-2016 season. Snow isn’t that unusual for Anchorage this early and their normal snowfall to date as of today is around 1.4 inches. Fairbanks, Alaska is showing a little over 20 inches so far this season. It’s probably a good thing that Fairbank’s population is just a little over 32,000.
So far Anchorage is the only Big city to receive measurable snowfall this season but there are a few other cities that have had at least a trace of snow. The most surprising in my opinion is that Chicago, Illinois is showing a trace which according to one of our visitors to our site Michael, it was a mix with hail that happened August 2nd.
The other cities that have had at least a trace of snow or wintry mix as of 9/30 are Billings, Montana and Colorado Springs, Colorado. I’ll have to take another peek to see if any of the other cities have received a trace of snow in the last week or so.
I’m really not looking forward to the cold weather that is right around the corner but I am looking forward to having fun with all of you like we always do Let’s have some fun once the 2015-2016 snow season gets into full swing and before we know it Spring will be popping up in no time.
Lowell, Ma, Winner of The National Golden Snow Globe Contest
Congratulations to Lowell, Massachusetts and to the fine folks in Lowell on being the snowiest Big city in the united states for the 2014-2015 snow season. This has by far been the closest snow contest since it began several seasons back. Less than an inch separates the top 3 cities in the Golden Snow Globe contest.
It was looking like the contest was going to end up in a tie between Worcester, Ma and Syracuse, NY for awhile but Lowell managed to pull it off beating both Syracuse and Worcester by only 0.9 of an inch. Syracuse and Worcester both ended the snow season with 119.7 inches of snowfall.
Lowell, Ma deserves the bragging rights after setting their all-time seasonal snow record of 111.5 inches that dated back to the 1947-1948 season according to the National Weather Service website. Unless it snow tonight Lowell has set their all time seasonal record with 120.6 inches this season, 2014-2015. Way to go Lowell!
I was going to drag out the contest a little longer but figured Nah. OK, today is the last day of the 2014-2015 snow season believe it or not. Really!!! The new 2015-2016 snow season starts tomorrow, July 1st I have never waited this long to call the National snow contest but being the Sissyman that I am I was a little worried with it being sooo close and that perhaps some corrections would be made by the National Weather Service that I decided to hold off. I did call both National Weather Service office’s that handle Lowell, Worcester and Syracuse to make sure it was safe and both said to call it and both said it was.
I will do a more detailed summary when I have a little more time in the next few days. Once again Congrats to all of you in Lowell, Ma. It’s been a really fun season as always
A Few Videos of a Thunderstorm and Lightning Near Clayton, North Carolina
Last night we were hanging out in the backyard when we started seeing a lot of lightning. What was really cool about this thunderstorm was not a rumble of thunder was heard during the entire storm. Below are a few videos of the lightning that I took and the lightning lasted over an hour.
I asked a few of the pros why there was no thunder and they all pretty much said it was most like because the storm was too far away. That’s probably the only explanation for not hearing any thunder with all of that lightning but man it looked like it was pretty close to us.
By the way, the little kid you hear is my Grandson who I am visiting and he was safe in his daddy’s truck…
3 Videos of a Lot of Lightning in a Storm
My 2 year old Grandson sums up the lightning the best
I was talking to Stephanie Abrams from the Weather Channel through twitter during her show really early this morning. She posted one of the videos of the lightning on her facebook page and the Weather Channel has been showing it on TV which is pretty cool
I’ve finally added a new shopping section that I have been thinking about adding to the Golden Snow Globe site for awhile now. It’s still in the works and I am will be adding many more shopping sites and stores as the days go on.
Every purchase you make by going through Golden Snow Globe I get compensated for so it really helps me out a lot and a Big Thanks in advance for making me Rich even though that will never happen If you already shop at stores online such as Walmart, Amazon, Ebay and others I have them listed on the site now and you pay the same prices unless I have some coupons to offer you where you will save even more. You can find the Shopping Section Here!
A lot of the online stores are stores that I personally shop at and almost always save at. I’m going to do my best to add and keep updated some of the specials and most current coupons that the merchants offer me to share with those of you who visit our site.
I have been shopping online for about 15 years now give or take. I find that some of the best deals online are ink stores that sell compatible printer ink cartridges, laser toners for your printers and all-in-ones, personal and business bank checks, party supplies and quite a few other products which I will be adding in the next couple of days. You will find all of my new posts right below this one that is a brief explanation of the new shopping section at Golden Snow Globe or just click on the most recent posts to the left.
Updated 5/18/2015 - First as always I want to give a Big Thanks to Stephanie S. for your recent donation to the snow site and to all of you that have donated throughout the season. I really appreciate you taking the time and it helps out a lot, Thanks
I had a chance this weekend to talk to Kim Buttrick who is the person in charge of the CoOps at the Boston NWS office about Lowell, Ma’s snow stats. The obvious question was why did Lowell’s snow totals rise a couple of inches and to find out if it was was I thought, an adjustment or correction from a previous date.
I’ve talked to Kim a couple of times and she is such a nice person and really takes the time to clarify things for me. This time she went over all of the data that was reported along with explaining to me how it works as far as getting reports from Lowell which explained a lot
Kim told me that the person that takes the measurements for Lowell, MA which are recorded at the Water Treatment Plant there will punch in the numbers each day using the phone. There are times when mistakes are made punching in the snow data and that is why they also fill out a manual form so that they have a hard copy of it also.
Kim then compares the data that was punched in by phone with the hard copy form that she receives each month with the written snow totals. She then makes any corrections or adjustment that need to be made. I see several NWS Offices making adjustments for several cities throughout the season and always have since I have been keeping the snow totals for the cities. Obviously the reason this one stands out so much is because the correction put Lowell in the lead. There is no conspiracy going on by the NWS and I can assure you they have no interest in the snow contest or the outcome of it
Kim told me that there were a few corrections throughout the season for Lowell but the two that made the difference were what I posted below. March 22nd a correction was made and 1.5 inches of snow was added. Another was made on March 29th where 0.5 inches was added to Lowell’s snow totals. The math adds up giving Lowell the 2 new inches of snow which put them in the lead as of my last update.
A Big Thank You Kim for helping us out and explaining how things work with the NWS and also for taking the time to do so. Thanks Kim
OK, now that the controversy is cleared up it’s time to talk about when the snow contest ends. Normally I will call it a wrap by now but with the lead only half an inch I don’t feel comfortable calling it yet. IMO the chances are pretty good that the snowfall is over for Lowell, Worcester and Syracuse but I think I am going to ride it out a little longer. It’s been a pretty funky snow season for a lot of cities and I want to make sure the funkiness is over For now Lowell is in the lead and stay tuned for any update or maybe even some more adjustments
Have an Awesome Day Everyone
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