Last season, Pat and I did a trial version of Fantasy Snowfall, and overall it was a great success. We’ve brought it back this year, though with some changes. First off, we have 2 more people participating: Brent and Mike. With 2 more people, we’ve reduced the number of full cities to 6 per person. Also, everyone has Syracuse, NY, but can only use it as a starter once. All other times, Syracuse counts as 0 inches.

With there being 6 cities, 4 will be starters and 2 will be bench. Starters will have full credit while the bench is worth half. All cities must start at least once, and be on the bench at least once. Roster updates occur at the end of each month.

This year’s contest will run from December through March. I’ll try to get full updates done every 10 days, depending on snow totals of course.

The draft took place last week and starters were submitted by November 30th. Here are the cities each participant has, with starters for December in bold:

Brent:
Denver, CO
Erie, PA
Lansing, MI
Milwaukee, WI
Sioux Falls, SD
Worcester, MA

Mike:
Boston, MA
Flint, MI
Madison, WI
Pittsburgh, PA
Rochester, NY
South Bend, IN

Pat:
Buffalo, NY
Cleveland, OH
Green Bay, WI
Rochester, MN
Salt Lake City, UT
Spokane, WA

Steve:
Akron, OH
Anchorage, AK
Billings, MT
Grand Rapids, MI
Hartford, CT
Minneapolis, MN

A quick “Power Ranking” of these cities, based on their season average, shows that Pat has a slight advantage. Coming in second is Brent, then Mike, with Steve being last. However, the difference between first and last is about a foot, which suggests this will be a close contest.

We hope you enjoy following along this year’s contest! Who do you think will win this year’s Fantasy Snowfall contest? Let us know in the comments!

I think I’ve made you all wait long enough now. There are a few announcements at the end of this post, but we’ll get to the results first. As always, the sleepers are in italics. This month Pat used his 2 sleeper option so he has 6 starters.

Pat takes April! But, was is enough to take this year’s title?

It was, by 5.35 inches! In a season in which seemingly big leads were overcome monthly, it is rather fitting that the final big lead was overcome as well. Congratulations Pat, you’ve won GSG Fantasy Snowfall 2013! There’s a little donation waiting for you. Those 2 statements may or may not be related to each other.

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Now for the announcements.

First off, we are excited to bring Fantasy Snowfall back for next season. It will once again, be a four month event, but the timing will be altered. Next season will run from December 1st through March 31st. So the draft will be held in mid to late November.

Secondly, I will not be a participant next season. I will still be involved with Fantasy Snowfall as an administrative role, updating the stats, running the draft and so forth. But in interest of fairness, I should not be a participant for as long as we continue Fantasy Snowfall. So that means we’ll need someone to take my spot in the contest. We have a possibility out there, but we’ll wait for next season to see how that pans out before making an announcement.

Third, we are going to expand the contest to 4 participants. How we get those other 2 people is yet to be determined. However, we may very well end up making it open to the public. If you would like to participate in next year’s event, leave a comment! We’ll keep you in mind for next year’s contest.

And finally, this is not Fantasy Snowfall related at all, but I thought I’d give it a brief mention while there’s some interest in the site this season. So, it’s some shameless self promotion. I will be participating in a video game event in early November, called Extra Life. Proceeds from my page are going to the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse, NY. While the event is almost 6 months away, donations are being accepted right now. Click here for more information. Thank you everyone!

Thanks to all who have checked out Fantasy Snowfall 2013 and we’re looking forward to next season! Well…maybe we’ll enjoy warmer weather first.

We’re just about halfway through the final month of Fantasy Snowfall. Some cities already have as much snow, or more, than they had in all of January. We’ll get to that in just a bit, but first, here’s how the teams stand so far in April. As a reminder, the sleepers are in italics. Pat used his 2 sleeper option this month, so he has 6 starters.

With the big snow cities forced to be on the bench this month, it’s not a surprise to see the bigger snow totals there. As I mentioned up top though, some cities are already at, or above, their totals for all of January. Those cities are Anchorage, Denver, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Syracuse. It makes for an interesting race to the finish, but how long will the snow last?

The final results for the season will be posted May 1st. Depending on events between now and then, we may sneak in one more update.

Just like with February, there’s lots to get into with the end of the month results. So…here they are…

Pat takes this one! As mentioned in the previous update, and held true in the end, the bench was the star of the month. Both Pat and Steve’s highest totals were bench cities this month in Worcester and Denver, respectively. With three months down, and 1 to go, here’s how the overall standings look:

Steve still has the lead, by a little over 11 inches heading into April. It may seem over, but all it takes is one well placed storm. And if you think that’s not likely to happen, keep this in mind: it’s currently snowing in Syracuse. Now on to the April starters:

Pat:
Fort Collins, CO
Green Bay, WI
St. Paul, MN
Worcester, MA
Newark, NJ
Pueblo, CO

Pat saved his double sleeper option for the end. And he has the current GSG leader Worcester starting. But, he was forced to bench some of his other big snow getters in Buffalo, Erie and Syracuse. Along with the two sleepers, Pat was forced to start Green Bay for April.

Steve:
Denver, CO
Des Moines, IA
Madison, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Boston, MA

Speaking of benching big snow getters, Steve had to bench Anchorage and Rochester for April. Steve also had to start Denver, Des Moines and sleeper Boston. Of the two remaining options available, Steve took the two northern cities Madison and Minneapolis.

Both are looking for a strong finish…at least as strong of one as you can get in April. Just 30 days remain in this year’s Fantasy Snowfall contest!

It’s crunch time for the March segment of Fantasy Snowfall. Both sides have left a lot of snow on the bench this time.

Bench production is great in basketball, not so much here. Had either side made one or 2 different choices, this could be a much different race. In fact, Steve would have been better off switching starters and benched cities. Oh, and once again, Pat has a big lead with about a week to go in the month.

We’ll have another update on April first (no joke), which will show the final March results as well as the starters for April, the final month of this year’s contest.

Time once again for a GSG Fantasy Snowfall Update. The New England area was hit pretty hard with snow in the early going…and neither of us started any of our cities in the region. With about two thirds of the month left, it’s quite possible that it won’t matter in the end. But for now, I’m sure Pat and Steve are kicking themselves for the early miss. On to the stats!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…Pat’s leading in the early going! Though, it’s not by much: less than a half of an inch separates the two sides.

As always, there will be the March recap at the end of the month. Depending on how the snow goes the rest of the way, there may be another update before then.

Until next time everyone, enjoy whatever weather it is you get!

Lots to discuss this time, so let’s just get to it! As always, the sleepers are in italics. Stephen used the 2 sleeper option this month, so he has 6 starters for February.

It was a snow filled month for a lot of cities! Worcester dominated the way with almost 4 feet of snow in February. However, it was not enough for Pat as the bench totals ended up making the difference. 3 of the 20 cities did not reach double digit snowfall, and Pat had all of them. In addition, Steve’s use of the 2 sleepers option worked out well: starting South Bend for February resulted in a gain of 13.35 inches.

We add the January and February results together to find the overall standings so far:

And Stephen leads by 12.70 at halftime. Now on to the starters for March.

Pat:
Buffalo, NY
Erie, PA
Fort Collins, CO
St. Paul, MN
Syracuse, NY

Pat has some catching up to do, but he might have the line up to do it. This also sets three roster spots for April: Green Bay and the two sleepers Newark and Pueblo. With 2 sleepers starting in April, he’ll have 6 starters, like how Steve did for February. Pat will also have to bench Buffalo, Erie and Syracuse.

Steve:
Anchorage, AK
Cleveland, OH
Madison, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Rochester, NY

In an effort to build the lead, Steve is going with the northern cities for March. Steve is now forced to start Denver, Des Moines and sleeper Boston for April. In addition, Anchorage and Rochester must be benched.

Can Pat make the comeback? Will any city outdo Worcester’s 44.4 showing?

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

With under a week to go in the month, it’s time for another update. And this one is closer than any update we’ve posted here yet! As always, the sleepers are in italics. Stephen used the 2 sleeper option this month, so he has 6 starters for February.

As mentioned above, the race has tightened up significantly. At the 2/10 update, Pat had a 30.05 lead. That has dwindled down to less than an inch! It’s been a pretty snowy month for most of these cities, as 14 of the 20 have double digit snowfall, and 6 of those are averaging over an inch per day.

We’ll get another Fantasy Snowfall update next week to wrap up February and reveal the lineups for March. And as always, go Orange!

With the big snow storm in New England wrapped up, I figured this would be a good time to check the totals for February so far. As a reminder, sleepers are in italics, and I used both sleepers as starters this month, which gives me 6 starters for February.

Not surprisingly, the one with all northeast cities starting is currently leading…and big. Taking a look at totals from January, several cities are well above their totals for the entire month of January. With the big snow storm in the northeast, you’d expect that out of those cities, but even the midwest cities like Green Bay, Madison, Minneapolis and St. Paul have more snow in 9 days of February than 31 days of January. It seems like I picked a bad month to bench Madison and Minneapolis, for now anyway.

We’ll get another Fantasy Snowfall update to wrap up February. Depending on how things go between now and then, there may be another update earlier. Until then, have a good one everyone!

It’s February 1st, time to see the results for January! It was an interesting end to the month, I’ll have more on that below the table. As a reminder, sleepers are in italics.

I’m always amazed at how quickly things can change. On the 1/27 update, neither of our team totals reached 60 inches…but both of us hit over 80 for the month.

Now on to February. Pat and I set our rosters earlier, and here are our starters…
Pat:
Buffalo, NY
Erie, PA
Syracuse, NY
Worcester, MA
Newark, NJ

Pat’s going regional here, as all five starters are in the northeast. Also to keep in mind: Fort Collins, Green Bay and St. Paul still have to start at least once, while Buffalo, Erie and Syracuse must go on the bench once. Both sleepers still need to be starting one more time. Pat also has the “2 sleeper” option available, which would give him an extra starter in either March or April.

Steve:
Anchorage, AK
Cleveland, OH
Rochester, NY
Salt Lake City, UT
Boston, MA
South Bend, IN

I’m going with a more spread out look with half of my starters outside the northeast. I’m also using my “2 sleeper” option this month, giving me the extra starter for February. Denver, Des Moines and Minneapolis still need to start, while Anchorage, Rochester and Salt Lake City still need to be benched. South Bend has started the 2 months required for a sleeper while Boston still needs to start once more.

What cities will be the big snow getters this month?

Hey, have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the Super Bowl!