First things first As always! I want to say Thanks You to Benjamin O. and Eileen P. for your kind donations to the site. It may sound like a repeat but I do truly appreciate you both for taking the time. Thanks Benjamin and Eileen 
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OK, I figure it’s about time to just put out a little info about the snow contest seeing how new visitors come everyday to the site. These are a couple of early morning posts that I made in our Facebook group which by the way is open to all snow lovers and haters too. Over 200 members sharing pictures and stories and growing each day Click Here to Join The Facebook Group
This is just to give all a little info on the snow stats on the website. For 12 -13 years I’ve been doing it this way and it’s worked out good and there is NO doubt it my mind it’s the best way. All of the snow stats that I use on the snow sites I get from the National Weather Service. They get them from sources across the country, blah, blah, blah and then they post the snow statistics to their site at weather.gov.
It comes down to that I need to see something posted on the National Weather Service (NWS) site so that if a reporter, a snow plow person, or pretty much anyone gets in touch with me I have something to show them. Pretty much something to cover my butt if the snow stats are being questioned. Yes, this way I can blame it on the National Weather Service, joking.
In the case of Lowell, MA I have no reason to doubt Shawn, who is the CoOp for Lowell, Mass and does the weather measurements for them about their snow totals and other stuff. It really takes a dedicated person to do what Shawn and many others do around the clock to help all of us out. Anyways Shawn has been posting some totals that he has measured for Lowell which I have no problem with. It gives us a heads up on what’s going on there There is a Good chance that Lowell, MA according to Shawn is in 1st place right now,
BUT…. Like I have done for the last 12-13 years on the Golden Snowball site, until I see it being posted on the National Weather Service I have to go with the snow totals they are showing which at last check is 100.8. I see different numbers all day long floating around online for different cities. The National Weather Service is where we get our data from and that is what we will go by. When they report we report…
Also keep in mind that it is not that unusual for statistics which show in the Now Data section on the weather service site to be behind. This has been the case since I have been checking snow stats. Most do an update once a day though. So in other words until the NWS updates I have no choice but to stick with the snow totals I see them reporting… End of Story and They Lived Happily Ever After smile emoticon
Another post I made relating to adding cities to the contest and if you know of one that has a population of 100,000 or more and can make it into the Top 25 PLEASE feel free to share it with us 
This was a reply to someone asking about a couple of other cities in Massachusetts but it applies to all of the cities.
As far as I know the other cities don’t have any official snow stats. If they do I can’t find the By official I mean from the National Weather Service and stats that they consider to be official.
As far as putting other cities in the snow contest I do add several cities each season. I also remove several cities if nothing is going on snow wise there. I do check the cities that were removed from time to time. Obviously every city with a Population of 100,000 isn’t going to be listed. I’m guessing it would be over 100 and probably way more than that. I do try my best to keep it so that the top 25 cities are the snowiest but even that is hard to do. This season and Lowell, MA is a good example.
Lowell was never on the radar in the past. Because of the way this season is going someone suggested them, I researched them and they were added as they should be. Keep in mind that an update on average depending if I blog about it, do any research and so on takes 2-3 hours. This season I have made it a point to get at least two updates in. I did cut some cities a couple of weeks ago that weren’t doing much and that saved me a little bit of time. Keep in mind this is a one man show and not the Weather Channel who I’m sure has a ton of people looking up all the stuff they talk about and trust me I’m not complaining
Stephen helps out also and normally finds some fun stuff to add to the snow sites. I know he already hard at work thinking of something for next season
A big part of the FUN snow contests is that people are also suggesting a city that may have showed up on the radar and that helps me out a lot. They also make some good suggestions about a change on the site and other things. It’s the interaction with all of you snow lovers and haters that makes it fun for me. OK, the donations help too with the the time spent on the sites. I just added up the hours I put into the snow sites, mainly this one the last 4 days and it’s over 60 hours. Normally it’s around 30-40 I would say. I enjoy it though.
If anyone has a city that may be missing, mainly that would be in the Top 25 at this time in the season PLEASE feel free to let me know using the contact page above..
http://goldensnowglobe.com/current-top-10-snowiest-cities/
Have an Awesome Day Everyone
Just wanted to let you know I love the site. Ever since I moved to Syracuse 5 years ago, I check it all winter – slightly obsessed with Syracuse being number 1 because if we’re not number one…then we can’t complain, right?
I mean…we get lots of snow up here, but Erie can still lord it over us.
I have friends in Boston and Worcester who I’ve laughed at when they complain about “snow”. This year, I’m definitely not laughing. Feeling actually good about Syracuse being in 6th if the way to first is 100 inches of snow in like 50 days.
Keep up the great work! I love it. (And hate the snow in February!).