Mass

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Who’s In First, What’s in Second, I Don’t Know is in Third

Posted by Patrick on February 26, 2015
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Updated 2/27 3:00 PM – First off I want to give a shout out and a Big Thanks to David M. for your kind donation to the snow site. Thank You David for helping out and taking the time to do so :)

OK, I still haven’t been able to confirm that the snow stats being posted for Lowell are correct but after looking around a little more it seems that the numbers do add up. Read below for a more detailed explanation and hopefully I will be able to get a hold of the person I need to come tomorrow. Stay Tuned.
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I think Abbot and Costello’s Who’s on First says it all. The title pretty much sums up yesterday and today in the National snow contest. I have sent out a tweet and also made a phone call but unfortunately it’s still up in the air as to which city is winning right now. I am going to do my best to explain what’s going on and it won’t be easy believe me. Below is what I posted in our Facebook Snow group.

2/26 - OK, here is the problem I am having with the snow stats and why no update last night and this morning. I did just post an update but keep in mind IT IS NOT OFFICIAL yet.

OK, Lowell, Ma went from 103.9 to 109.3 last evening. First off it’s unusual for an evening update to come out for Lowell and any of the cities that report in the Now Data section. Second I want to make sure it isn’t a typo and that they didn’t just mix the 3 and 9 up. The numbers are very close to each other, 103.9 & 109.3 that it would be easy to do.

I did make a phone call to the Boston National Weather office trying to confirm Lowell, MA’s snow totals. The person I talked to couldn’t confirm the totals and the person that I really need to speak to there won’t be in until Saturday :(

I’m sure she will be able to clear things up.. From what they are showing right now would move Lowell into 1st place which is great unless of course you are from Worcester. I just don’t want to jump the snowbank on this until I can confirm it. I also sent a tweet to the Boston NWS last night asking about the new totals for Lowel and their reply was :

From NWS Boston – “I can tell you they did not receive that much snow last night. It may have been a typo, but I can not confirm.”.

For Lowell and a handful of other cities I have to get snow stats from the NWS site using the Now Data on the site. I won’t get into that but it’s different than the way I get most of the city snow stats.

Bruce, one of the member in our FB snow group pretty much summed it up – Bruce saaid –

“So, the dilemma is…did they correct an old typo, make a new typo, or update flawed previous data? And Patrick DeCoursey, you’re left trying to figure out how you should figure it out……does that sum it up?”.

Bruce is pretty much dead on and hopefully come Saturday everything will be all back to normal. for how long, Hey, I’m on third and I don’t know ;) In the mean time keep in mind that everything is UNOFFICIAL right now as far as whether Worcester or Lowell, MA is leading.

So to wrap it up I leave you with this classic Whos on First from Abbott and Costello :)

Have an Awesome Evening Everyone and Stay Tuned….

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!

Worcester, MA, Lowell, Mass and Boston, Massachusetts Top 3 Snowiest Big Cities

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

OK, I’ve been waiting the last couple of days and it finally happened, sort of. All 3 cities from Massachusetts own/share the Top 3 spots as the snowiest Big cities in the US right now with Boston sharing the number 3 spot on the snow mountain with Buffalo, New York.

According to the snow stats that are posted on the National Weather Service’s website Boston picked up 0.6, six tenths of an inch yesterday to move them into a tie with Buffalo. Both cities are at 96.3 inches on the season as of yesterday. Way To Go Massachusetts :) With the storms you have been getting hammered by the last few weeks you deserve to be on top of the Snow Mountain. Come to think about it, with the epic snowfall that hit the Buffalo area earlier this season in November they deserve their spot on the top also ;)

OK, the emails are still flowing in about which city is in first place right now. Is it Worcester or is it Lowell? Right now your guess is as good as mine to be honest with you. That said right now the National Weather Service shows that Worcester’s snow stats are higher than Lowell’s. I have to go with what the National Weather Service shows and is reporting on their site. Chances are good that they just may be behind on updating Lowell, MA’s snow totals but until then I have nothing to go by so I have to keep it how it is until something else gets reported. If I see a RELIABLE news source show something different and I can confirm it with them then I may change it but probably not. Below is a screenshot of what the NWS shows for Lowell as of around 9 am this morning.

Lowell, Ma Snow Totals 2014-2015

Anyways no matter what city is in first it still comes down to that the 3 cities from Mass own the Top 3 slots. After all you have been dealing with, the shoveling, trying to see over the snowbanks when driving, trying to get down the narrow roads, did I say all of the SHOVELING yet, all of you folks from Mass deserve some kind of bragging rights. For the time being anyways :)

Way To Go and have an awesome day ;)