national snow contest

All posts tagged national snow contest

Breaking News – Erie, Pa Snows Into First – It’s Official

Posted by Patrick on January 7, 2015
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

1/7 11 AM – Put it in the snow books because it’s official now. Erie, Pennsylvania has taken the lead in the Golden Snow Globe National Snow Contest ;)

Erie, Pa slipped past Grand Rapids, MI when all of the snowflakes were tallied up at the end of the day yesterday. Right now only half an inch separates the two for the top spot on the snow mountain. Snow is predicted for a lot of the snowiest cities today so it should just keep getting better ;)

Grand Rapids actually took the lead away from defending Champs Erie right around November 18th so I guess this is payback and payback is a Batch, a batch of snow falling on Erie that is ;) WTG Erie and it will be interesting to see how long you can hold onto the lead.. So far there have been 5 lead changes from 4 different cities which are below.

Anchorage, Alaska – 10/20/2014 – 11/14/2014

South Bend, Indiana – 11/14/2014 – 11/15/2014

Erie, Pa 11/15/2014 – 11/18/2014

Grand Rapids, Michigan 11/18/2014 – 1/6/2015

Erie, Pa 1/6/2015 – Current Leader

Stay Tune for a late day update and drive careful everyone!
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1/7 2:00 AM - IMPORTANT - The new update was done at 2:00 am and not all of the cities were showing new snow stats at that time. Grand Rapids was reporting snow stats as was Erie, Pa. Erie has indeed slid past Grand Rapids with the snow totals that were being reported for yesterday. Come morning who knows ;)

Buffalo, NY and Billings, Montana were not showing new snow stats at 2 AM so both of those cities could take the lead. I will get another update in sometime in the morning (Late Morning) so stay tuned and Good Night ;)

Enough Snow Already Billings, Montana

Posted by Patrick on January 6, 2015
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

First as always a Big Thanks to Thomas R. for your donation to the website. I truly appreciate you taking the time. Thanks Thomas :)
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OK, it was fun watching Billings, Montana climb the snow mountain the last week or so but enough that’s enough snow now. Now you are messing with my home town Syracuse, New York ;) I suppose I may as well cheer you on now seeing how you just passed Syracuse and it looks like you are still climbing the snow mountain. OK, Might as well go all the way to the top to make things exciting and I think we are well overdue for a change of the throne. No offense to Grand Rapids of course but there haven’t been a whole lot of lead changes this season.

So far there have only been 4 leaders in the national snow contest for the 2014 – 2015 snow season. Out of the 4 leaders Grand Rapids has by far been sitting at the throne at the top of the snow mountain the longest. That said the snow contest has been close all season long with just a few inches separating some of the top snowiest cities in the U.S..

Here are the cities that have led so far this season and when they held the lead. Keep in mind the dates are give or take a day depending on when an update was done during the snow season.

Anchorage, Alaska – 10/20/2014 – 11/14/2014

South Bend, Indiana – 11/14/2014 – 11/15/2014

Erie, Pa 11/15/2014 – 11/18/2014

Grand Rapids, Michigan 11/18/2014 – Current Leader

Billings Montana continues to move up in the National Snowiest Big City Contest with a population of 100,000 or more and has just jumped another couple of spots. Billings just slid past Syracuse and Buffalo, NY to take the number 3 slot in the contest and from reading around there may still be more snow on the way for them. There was quite a bit of shuffling around with a lot of the cities adding some snow to their totals the last couple of updates.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota has moved up quite a bit the last few days and broke a date record yesterday picking up another 5.0 inches of snow breaking an old record of 3.9 inches on the day set back in 1951. WTG Sioux Falls, SD :)

Have a Great Day Everyone and Stay Safe – See Snow – Drive Slow unless you’re on a sled of course ;)

Merry Christmas To Family, Friends and All of You

Posted by Patrick on December 25, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

My family has always been about spreading tradition to different generations and it’s what I love the most about the Christmas holidays. I love watching our family coming together and sharing the same traditions that has gone on in our family for many decades.

I think this is one of the reasons I love this song so much. Two different generations so far apart and two different cultures so far apart that come together for the holidays.

It also brings to mind another favorite song by John Lennon, Imagine. Wouldn’t it be nice if it wasn’t just the for holidays and was year round that all of us could come togehter across the globe. JMO!

From my family to yours we wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and what ever it is that you celebrate during this time of the season. For myself and my family it’s Merry Christmas!

Enjoy the time spent with your family my friends and have a Very Merry Christmas ;)

Syracuse is Slowly Adding Snowflakes to Snow Total

Posted by Patrick on December 19, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Syracuse is slowly sneaking up towards the leaders a few tenths of an in at a time. Grand Rapids, Michigan, Buffalo and Erie, Pa may want to start getting prepared and start making some snowballs for when Syracuse makes a run for the top of the snow mountain ;)

This last update I changed the snow stats that you see on the far right to give us an idea of how we all are doing compared to last season. Normally I have what the average snowfall totals should be to date. I changed it over to how much snow each of the cities had at this time last season. No doubt Erie, Pennsylvania, last seasons snow champs stands out the most. This time last season Erie had just over 4 feet of snowfall already. It’s probably a good thing that a decent lake effect snow event earlier in the season missed them or they would probably be close to that again right now.

Right now we have 4 cities in the snowiest big city contest that are within less 4 inches of each other. Grand Rapids is still the King and has been for most of the season so far but they have been pretty quiet the last several days. Syracuse is just a little more than an inch away from pushing Erie down the snow mountain a slot. Of course one decent lake effect event in any of these cities could give them a decent lead.

All Of The Snowiest Cities On Break

Posted by Patrick on December 2, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

While the top 5 snowiest cities in the United States were sleeping it was a good time for a lot of the other cities to make a move ;) The top 5 are Grand Rapids, Michigan, Erie, Pa, Buffalo, NY, Cleveland, Ohio and South Bend, Indiana.

Nah, didn’t happen and only 2 cities in the Golden Snow Globe contest moved up this last update. All of the snowy cities are taking a little break but I see that snow is in the forecast for some of the cities so that could change. Grand Rapids continues to hold on to the lead by just a little more than a handful of snow over second place Erie, Pa and last seasons snow champs.

Grand Rapids has held the lead I believe since they pushed Erie, Pa off the top of the snow mountain right around November 17th give or take a day ;) Erie, Pa slipped into the lead although a short lived lead around November 15th taking the top spot from South Bend, Indiana.

It was pretty unusual to see some of the cities over a foot of snow that early in the season. Erie missed out on some decent lake effect snow that was suppose to hit them a few weeks back otherwise they would probably have a decent lead on a lot of us. Grand Rapids has had steady snowfall for the last few weeks keeping them on the top of the snow mountain. Keep it going Grand Rapids because a lot of cities will be trying to push you down the mountain sometime soon ;)

Have a Great Night Everyone :)

A Cool Snow Storm Contest to Enter Free

Posted by Patrick on November 25, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

This is a contest I have entered in the past and is a lot of fun seeing how good you are at predicting snowfall and storms. If you are a snow lover and like contests just for fun and guesstimating snow storms I highly recommend checking it out and joining. Again, it’s all about fun and the owner of the website TQ has great standards. No spamming you with emails, ads and so on. A truly good site. Here is the info below about the site and contest.  Even if you miss the first snow storm deadline which is for the next two days there will be plenty more for you to enter your predictions ;)

I believe the deadline for the current storm for Wednesday and Thanksgiving is: 10:30 PM EST TONIGHT … TUE … 25-NOV-14  So there is still a few hours left to start right from the beginning of the season.  If you miss the deadline you can still join and get in on all of the other storms ;)

The Contest

The NE.Wx Snowfall Forecast Contest (NEWxSFC) began during the 1999-2000 winter on USENET’s ne.weather newsgroup to find out which poster(s) made skillful forecasts for synoptic-scale snowfalls in the NE and Mid-Atlantic.  There was no station list or formal entry process. Forecasts were gleaned from newsgroup posts.

Since those early days … a permanent station list was developed and forecasts are submitted through an on-line form at the Contest’s web site.

This winter marks the 16th Annual’ Storm-total’ Snowfall Forecast Contest.
NEWxSFC is the longest continuously held snowfall forecasting contest on the World Wide Web!

The 27 permanent forecast stations for each snow storm range from Raleigh…NC (RDU) to Caribou…ME (CAR) and Binghamton…NY (BGM) to Hyannis..MA (HYA).

Web site @ http://www.newx-forecasts.com/
Blog @ http://newxsfc.blogspot.com/

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How to Enter
A ‘Call for Forecasts’ is issued ~48 hours before the deadline on the NEWxSFC’s blog…web page…and via e-mail list whenever a contest-worthy storm appears likely.  Deadline for entries is usually 10:30 PM the day before the first flakes fly.  Entries are made through the Contest’s web site.

Forecast element: storm-total snowfall at each station.

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What’s a Contest-worthy storm?
http://newxsfc.blogspot.com/2006/11/individual-storm-contest-season.html

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Season-total Snowfall Forecast Contest
This winter also marks the 14th Annual’Season-total’ Snowfall Forecast Contest.
Forecast element: season-total snowfall at each station.
Deadline for entries:  11:59 PM EST SUN … 30-NOV-14

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Who Can Enter
Amateur and professional forecasters; broadcasters with or without trained Seals; all other weather-biz types and wanna-bees; wish-casters…astrologers…and any other universally recognized class of dreamers; Pollyannas or Cassandras…registered Nostradamusts… non-violent megalomaniacs…woolly-bear caterpillars or their agents…pest detectives…NE.Wx NG regulars and lurkers; refugees from AmericanWx and/or USWeather…including self-imposed exiles from Eastern and of course…actual meteorologists.

Contest Rules at the web site: http://www.newx-forecasts.com/

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As always … there/s no cost … no fee … no advertising … or annoying requests for personal information to enter a forecast.  It’s just a fun exercise for winter wx enthusiasts to see who can make the best synoptic-scale snowfall forecast.

If you are issuing your first forecast this winter…or you entered the ‘season-total’ forecast contest … you/ll be prompted to create an account (user name / password / valid e-mail … if you want a copy of your forecast sent to your Inbox).
TQ

Have a Great Night All and Keep an Eye on the Weather the Next Couple of Days!

Snowiest Big Cities in U S Updated With a Twist

Posted by Patrick on November 24, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

I just got a full update in on the snowiest big cities in the United States and decided to mix it up just a bit. Normally I have the current snowfall totals for each city and also what their normal average snowfall is for this date in the snow season. An example is that Grand, Rapids, MI is already over last seasons snow totals for this time by 28.6 inches of snow.

I have been keeping an eye on how some of the cities are doing compared to last seasons snow totals and thought I would share that with you. I think it kind of gives you a little glance as to how the 2014 – 2015 snow season may compare to last season. Of course it’s not like any of us know what Mother Nature has in store for us this season ;)

I think what make the current stats interesting is that there are only a few cities in the top 25 snowiest cities that have less snow this season than they did at this time last year. The really interesting part IMO is if you remember, last season a lot of cities broke a lot of records because of how much snow we received last season. Of course I have the memory of a toad so I can’t remember exactly which cities broke the all time snow records or had their top 5 snowiest winter ever but there was quite a few of them.

Of course my home town Syracuse has to be one of the few cities with less snow than last season right now. And where is Billings, Montana this season? They are only at 2.4 inches so far compared to 11.1 inches of snow last season???

With the early snowfall so far this season for some of the cities we could be seeing some big snow totals again for the 2014 – 2015 snow season. Right now Grand Rapids, Michigan, Erie, Pa, South Bend, Indiana and Even Buffalo, New York stand out pretty good. Grand Rapids only had 0.4 inches this time last season and are at 29 inches so far. Erie, Pa only had 3.9 inches of snowfall but are already at 24.1 so far. South Bend, Cleveland, Buffalo and many others are following right behind them.

I just found it kind of interesting to see how good/bad (?) this season is starting out so far. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? Would you rather have me list the average snowfall to date for the cities or list what we had last season to compare? Either way works for me and I suppose I can just mix it up every now and then.

Rumor has it that there is a Nor’Easter in the works for unfortunately the Thanksgiving travel time. Last I read it may be effecting some of the cities on the east coast I think all the way down to the DC area maybe. I need to read some more but keep and eye on it. It will be interesting to see if it comes inland enough to effect the Syracuse, Buffalo, Erie and other cities. I don’t think it is suppose to come in far enough to the west though. Remember, I am clueless so check with the pros, your weather folks in your towns and also the National Weather Service.

Have an Awesome Night Everyone ;)

Grand Rapids, Michigan Snows Past Erie

Posted by Patrick on November 18, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

I just want to say Thanks to Lauren W. who made a recent donation to the site. Thanks also Lauren for the msg and kind words, they mean a lot :)
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Updated 11/19 7 PM – Grand Rapids, Michigan continues to hold onto the snow race lead but not by much. Erie, Pa has been quiet and after seeing all of the videos and pictures of the towns around Buffalo, NY I’m sure they probably don’t have a problem with that lake effect snow missing them so far.

Buffalo is finally on the move and just missed making it into the top 5 snowiest cities. The cities from Minnesota, Indiana, Colorado and Ohio seem to be taking over the top 25 the last few updates. Snow is still in the forecast for several of the cities so it should stay interesting for another day or two ;)

Also I wanted to let those of you know that have sent pictures and emails that I am getting them but I have been sick and I will get to posting them. I also wanted to get an update in this morning but I have been fighting a cold the last 2 weeks and it hit me hard enough today to finally go to the doctors. Probably a good thing I gave in because it ended up turning into pneumonia which I seem to get once a year right around this time.

Right now I am visiting North Carolina so it took awhile to find a doctor. Yup, you know arm and sunny North Carolina where I think the temperature ended up going down to 17 degrees last night :( I was reading that all 50 states in the US went below freezing last night. Hard to believe it’s only November isn’t it. Stay Tuned and have a Great Night All :)
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Updated 11/18 7 PM - Just as I was thinking, we do have a new leader in the Golden Snow Globe national snow contest. The new leader isn’t the city that I expected to go on top though. Congrats to Grand Rapids, Michigan who slipped past Erie, Pa to take the top slot on the snow mountain :)

I think most of us were keeping an eye on Buffalo, New York today thinking that they would be the new leader but for some reason they are only reporting a couple of inches so far for today. No doubt they got robbed with the lake effect snow that has been relentlessly pounding some of the smaller cities just a couple of miles away from the airport where their measurements are taking. This is one of the few times I actually feel bad for Buffalo.

I did notice earlier today as I was checking out a couple of radars that Grand Rapids had some snow falling. To be honest I was looking to see how South Bend was doing but the snow band kind of hung north of them earlier today when I noticed Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids, Michigan set 2 date records in a row, one yesterday and one today. Yesterday they had 4.4 inches of snow breaking the old date record of 2.9 inches set back in 1989. Today so far they are showing 7.3 inches of new snowfall which breaks the same record of 2.9 inches set back in 1989 also.

So far we have had 5 lead changes this season and with snow still in the forecast for the next couple of days I’m sure we will have couple more lead changes in the coming days. Stay Tuned for more updates and for those of you getting the 3-5 feet of snow, please stay safe.
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Updated 11/18 5:15 PM – I am still waiting for all of the city snow stats to come out and will do an update when they do which should be any time now. I am looking at stats right now and I was surprised to see Buffalo’s new totals :( Pretty lame what is being reported at the airport but all around them got pounded pretty good and I think it’s suppose to continue. All about those lake effect snow bands either hitting or just missing. I know I am going to get some not so nice comments from some folks in Buffalo about where the airport is located either on this site or the NY snow contest site. Still could be a couple of cities that may challenge Erie though. The new stats should be posted by the national weather service anytime now plus I don’t think Buffalo is done with the snow yet…

Updated 1:00 PM - I was looking around at the snow stats and there wasn’t a whole lot going on so I am going to hold off on an update for now. The reason being that the latest update from NOAA doesn’t include the overnight snowfall so it would pretty much just be a waste of time.

I will do a full update when the next snow stats come out in a bit and no doubt they should be interesting. The Buffalo area has been getting hit pretty good. The question will be is the airport where they take the measurements at getting a lot of snow? If so I think Erie, Pa may want to be a little worried about hanging on to the almost 17 inch lead that you hold right now over Buffalo.

I know that the NY State Thruway is closed IN BOTH DIRECTIONS between Exit 46, Rochester, and Exit 59, Dunkirk has been closed for now so a lot of snow is falling. I’ve also heard from a couple of people from Erie who said that there wasn’t much going on there but that was early this morning. Any changes in Erie yet. I was also reading that some paces south of Buffalo may get up to 70 inches of snow. Even I have to admit that is just nuts :(

I will add all updates in this post here and please feel free to leave your comments and updates in this post also. Stay Safe all of you in the snow band areas…

Erie, Pa Slips Past South Bend

Posted by Patrick on November 15, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

A Big Thanks to Sandrah C. for your donation today. They all help and to be honest makes the time I put into the snow site seem like it’s appreciated ;) Thanks for taking the time Sandrah :)
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Updated 11/16 7:30 PM – Just a quick heads up that I did a full update. I only intended to do a top 25 update but when I saw how many cities had some more snow of course I got curious ;) Almost all of the Golden Snow Globe cities shuffled around this up date. Erie still hold on to the lead but South Bend closed the gap a little.

Other cities are closing in and it looks like the big winners this update were Sioux Falls, South Dakota, cities from Michigan, Illinois and a few others. Best part is the beginning of the week starting tomorrow will keep the snow contest interesting. Drive safe all ;)
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OK, I think Erie, Pa is getting too use to being on top in the National Snow Contest. Erie picked up another 2.3 inches of fresh snow today to slip past South Bend, Indiana by a couple of inches. Let’s see if South Bend can launch a snowball attack on Erie and regain the top spot on the snow mountain ;) Better yet maybe we should all join forces and make it a snowball fight to remember :) So far we have had 4 lead changes this season with 3 different leaders…

Remember last season, the 2013 – 2014 snow season most of the cities were way above their annual snowfall with several cities breaking their all time snow records and several others hitting their top 5 snowiest season. If you think last season was tough in Erie, Pa and a couple of other cities this season could be even more interesting.

Right now Erie, Pa has 15.6 inches of snowfall to date. The normal snowfall for this date in the season should be 2.9 inches which means Erie is already 12.7 inches over their average snowfall to date. It gets even better though because last seasons snow champs had a really snowy season to pull off the victory. This season so far they are blowing away the snow totals that they had at this time last season which was only 3.4 inches of snow. In other words Erie, Pennsylvania already has over a foot of snow more than they did at this time last season. It will be interesting to see what Mother Nature has in storm for them this season ;)

I know, Erie, Erie, Erie – Marsha Marsha, Marsha but let’s face it, right now it’s all about Erie and South Bend but of course that will change as the season goes on :) Cleveland, Ohio deserves some credit also hanging in the #4 snow slot right now. Cleveland has 6.9 inches of snow on the season which is a good start for them. WTG Cleveland.

Last season I dropped several cities from the snow contest that weren’t doing much as far as snow totals go. I did take a look earlier at those cities and ended up putting 3 of them back in for the fact that one of them is in the top 5 right now and the other 2 are in the top 10. I added Boise, Idaho, Pueblo, Colorado and Colorado Springs back into the lineup. Boise has 7.6 inches for their snow totals and are in 3rd place right now. As for my home team Syracuse, hey, we are at least on the snow board right now ;)

Have a safe, awesome weekend all!

South Bend, Indiana New Snow King For Now

Posted by Patrick on November 14, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

I just did a top 25 update and South Bend, Indiana has pushed Erie, Pa down from the snow mountain. Hard to believe that when a city picks up over a foot of snow in a day that another is going to be right there behind them. Erie had the lead after yesterdays snow flakes were all counted up but South Bend was able to add more snow than Erie did today to take the lead for the first time this season.

Remember that last season we had to pull South Bend out because the airport stopped taking measurements for the National Weather Service at that weather station. Well all is good now and I personally love having a competitor like South Bend, Indiana back in the national snow contest. WTG South Bend and once again welcome back to the Golden Snow Globe contest ;)

One other thing to keep in mind is that there are many, many weather stations across the country and they DO NOT all report at the same time. Most are within a couple of hours of each other when they upload the snow stats though. This last Top 25 update there were a few stations that haven’t reported yet just to let you know. Chances are though that none of those cities received enough snow today to pass either South Bend or Erie, Pa.

I’ll take a peak later at a few of the cities if I get a chance and post some stats if they seem to matter. Have a Great night all…