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Worcester, MA is Snowiest Big City in US

Posted by Patrick on February 18, 2015
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

First as always I want to give a Big Thanks to Alicia M. for you donation to the snow site. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you taking the time. Thanks Alicia :)
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Updated 2/18 5:00 PM –
Right from the start I want to give a Big Thanks to Kim Buttrick from the Boston Weather Forecast Office in Taunton, MA for taking the time and helping me to clear things up. Not to mention taking the time to educate me on several things weather related. Thanks Kim, I can sleep again and I appreciate it ;) Kim is (CoOp) Co-operation Manager for the Boston Weather Forecast Office which handles the 3 cities from Massachusetts that are in the National snow contest and right now in the top 3 spots in the contest. Well of course by the time I ever get this typed that may change :(

OK, so I ended up doing something today that I said I wasn’t going to do and don’t normally do :( I have been seeing snow stat totals floating around for Lowell, MA and have for the last few days that didn’t match up with what we have posted. They also didn’t match up with what the National Weather Service is showing on their website. I see this all of the time and I am a pretty patient guy and normally just blow them off. I figured I would wait a day or two or three and see if maybe it was just a matter of the National Weather Service site being behind a bit. After all I’m sure they are pretty busy crunching numbers on their side after all of the storms they have been getting.

It finally got to the point where news organizations were putting out misinformation that Lowell was in first place and were the snowiest Big city in the US. Most of the news media and journalists that I know were holding off on doing a story about it. I also was seeing stuff like Lowell, MA ahead and confirmed going around but nothing about the source from the National Weather Service that confirmed it.

It was finally time to check it out and to see for myself if I could get something confirmed from the only source that can confirm it. That would be The NWS office that handles the statistics for Lowell so I made the call and happened to get Lucky. Like I mentioned above I was able to get in touch with the exact person that I needed to speak with which was Kim who was totally awesome at helping me straighten things out :)

Kim took the time to go through the snow stats that have been reported for Lowell were up to date as of 6:00 am this morning when the last measurements came in from the Cooperative Weather Observing Station. She also mentioned that they were getting calls there about Lowell being the snowiest big city in the US and was wondering why. I gave her a quick briefing of the probable why and Kim said she may put out a weather brief or statement or whatever she called it(I type slow :) ) to straighten things out about the rumors that have been going around.

Here is a statement or at least most of what I was able to write down fast enough from Kim who is the (CoOp) Co-operation Manager for the Boston Weather Forecast Office – As of 6:00 am this morning 2/18 100.8 inches of snow has been reported from an Official Weather Observing Station for Lowell, MA. Kim said that that is what Lowell has as of that time for the season.

I believe Kim also told me that the official measurements for Lowell come from the Water Treatment Plant there. Thanks once again Kim for taking the time to straighten things out and I hope your calls and emails stop too ;)

Once last thing! What really stood out from our conversation is how much Kim appreciates all of the work and time put in by the snow spotters that send reports in. She mentioned their dedication and brought up all of you snow spotters several time and nothing but praise. So if you ever fells discouraged for whatever reason keep in mind you are appreciated ;)

OK, it still comes down to the 3 cities which are Worcester, Lowell and Boston as of the earlier update are the Top 3 snowiest BIG cities (pop of 100,000 or more) in the country. WAY TO GO MASS!!!

Kim, feel free to contact me if I misquoted or have anything wrong here, Thanks!

Lowell, Massachusetts Added to National Snowiest City Contest

Posted by Patrick on February 13, 2015
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Updated 2/13/15 - First as always I want to say Thank You to Jeff K. and Jessica M. for your donations to the snow site yesterday and for the kind words too. Not only do they help but they are truly appreciated. Thanks Jeff and Jessica :) A mug of hot chocolate w/peppermint schnapps sounds good BTW Jeff!

I want to give a Big Thanks to Uschi K. for your donation to the website. I loved the way you calculated obviously and Thanks for the kind words Uschi, I appreciate both very much :)
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OK, Will Shawn be the most disliked person in Erie, PA today? More on that as you read below ;) BTW, Shawn is a nice guy so don’t hate on the messenger. Then again he is a little more than that.

Lowell, MA is at 87.9 as of the last update so they will be moving just past Erie, PA which is at 86.9 right now into the, WOW, number 3 spot on the snow mountain…

With the way the weather pattern has been the last few weeks with no end in sight to storms hitting I have been asking for suggestions and input of cities that may need to be added to the snow contest. Cities with a population of 100,000 or more (2010 Census) and with at least 30+ inches of snow to make it into the Top 25. The way that Massachusetts and the cities in the state have been getting pounded I was thinking that there are probably some missing and indeed there was/is/are. KEEP SENDING THEM IF YOU SEE THEM.

Thanks to Shawn who brought up Lowell in our Facebook Group so I could research the city and who is probably going to be the least liked person in Erie, PA today I made a few calls and they do belong in the National snow contest. I actually called 3 different National Weather Service Stations to confirm including the Boston Weather Forecast Office in Taunton, MA in which I forgot to get his name.

OK, Shawn is the CO-OP, COOP that goes out in the cold and keeps all of the snow stats and other weather related stats for Lowell, MA around the clock. Thanks Shawn, for what you do and NO padding those numbers, joking of course. Feel free to join our Facebook Group where all of the breaking news come out not o mention it’s a good group and a lot of FUN.

Click Here to Join Our Snowiest City Facebook Page

I also had to call a couple of other NWS stations for some other information and not that I didn’t trust Taunton I figured I would get another confirmation. All nice people BTW and more than willing to help me out. A Big Thanks to Dan from my NWS in Binghamton, NY and to Tom Hawley from the National Weather Forecast Office in Grey, Maine who helped me out with another city.

I had to call the Grey, Maine NWS office to see what was going on with Manchester, New Hampshire’s snow stats because they is a lot of missing data not to mention to conflicting snow totals for Manchester, NH. Tom told me that they just took over Manchester not too long ago and that it should be a lot better come next season. Anyways I had a nice talk with Tom who was an awesome guy and took the time to look up some stuff for me. I appreciate the help from all of you. For now I am going to hold off on adding Manchester because we don’t know what’s going on with the two different totals and how accurate they are. Feel free to convince me to change my mind. I always listen and I’m always open to suggestions.

I do promise that if Manchester continues to climb the snow mountain I will definitely revisit the thought of adding them and make a lot more calls. I’m pretty sure that I have checked in previous season and back then there was absolutely nothing to go on. At least this could be a start :(

Have an Awesome Day Everyone and Please Drive Safe. See Now – Drive Slow unless on a sled of course ;)