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Snow Storm Astro Sleds Minneapolis, Minnesota Near Top

Posted by Patrick on November 9, 2014
Posted in: All US Snow Cities. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Updated 11/12 -I’ve been waiting for some new snow stats to come in from the storm and they are starting to. We doubled the 9 cities that had measurable snowfall and now have 18 cities that are reporting snow. It looks like Minneapolis, Minnesota may be the winner of this round and I think they are going to have more snow to add to their totals by the end of the day. Minneapolis, Minnesota jumped into second place on the snow mountain and are only 0.4 inches away from moving to the top with Anchorage.

Billings, Montana who I thought would be the first to strike for the 2014-2015 snow season is on the mountain now reporting 2 inches of snowfall. They moved up to the 3rd slot on the snow mountain and remember they were pretty competitive last season. If anything changes come the next update from the National Weather Service I’ll try to get another update in later. Have an awesome day all ;)

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I’ve been reading around and it looks like winter storm Astro is going to be a game changer when it come to the early start of the Golden Snow Globe contest. Anchorage, Alaska has been holding on to the snow lead for awhile this season. I think a good bet will be that that will be dropping down at least a few spots.

It’s looking good right now according to several weather sites including The National Weather Service which is where we get our official snow stats from. South Dakota, Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin and Michigan are looking good as of the last check. This storm most like will be hanging to the North the more it pushes to the East. Remember, I’m no expert and kind of just bluff my way through these posts so if your city is in the storm Astro warning and watch areas check with the pros like the National Weather Service or your local weather folks ;)

I was going to do a full update but ended up just doing a quick top 25 update because there was only one change in the top 25 snowiest cities which was Ann Arbor, Michigan which jumped a few spots up on the snow mountain. I will be doing updates the next couple of days as snow storm Astro hits all of the cities. Right now I’m reading that the cities that get affected could/should be seeing anywhere for 1-3 inches all the way up to 12-18 inches of snowfall from storm Astro.

Stay Safe All and as Always, See Snow, Drive Slow ;)

Flint, Michigan 2nd Snowiest Big City This Season

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

This last update Flint, Michigan climbed into second place in the national snow contest picking up 1.3 inches. Anchorage still holds onto the number 1 spot with 3.8 inches of snowfall for the 2014-2015 snow season. Keep in mind these are snow stats from early this morning and would have been just snow accumulated from Saturday.

We now have 9 cities with a population of 100,000 or more that have measurable snowfall on the season meaning at least 0.1 of an inch of snow. Syracuse, New York who is the favorite very season is tied for last place not even showing a trace of snowfall yet this season at their airport. I did see a few flakes falling just outside of the city though.

Last years snow champs Erie, Pa is showing a Trace of snowfall now and it will be interesting to see if they can do a repeat of last season, taking the snowiest big city crown away from the other big cities. South Bend, Indiana is tied for 3rd place with Madison, Wisconsin.

I know that there were several cities from the south that got at least a trace of snowfall but I’ll hold off a bit before adding them. Honorable mention goes out to Columbia, South Carolina and a couple other cities that I saw some pictures of that had a coating of snow on the ground.

As far as the states go, four have 2 cities that are in the top 10. Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. No doubt that it should be another fun season and hopefully it plays out like last season did with the National Snow Contest going right down til the end of the season. Stay Tuned!

Have a Great Night All ;)

Golden SnowCast Forecast 16 Results

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 21, 2010
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , , .

For the New York State forecast, I believed that at least one of the five Golden Snowball cities would have warmer high temperatures on Saturday than on Friday. The table below shows the recorded high temperatures according to the National Weather Service.

New York State High Temperatures
City Friday Saturday
GSB Cities with warmer high temperatures on Saturday: 2
Albany 68 70
Binghamton 63 65
Buffalo 53 48
Rochester 65 51
Syracuse 64 56

Albany and Binghamton pulled through and the forecast is correct. A pretty substantial drop occured in Rochester, high temperatures were almost 15 degrees cooler on Saturday than Friday. All the other cities had a single digit difference in high temperatures.

For the World forecast, I predicted that at least one of the chosen cities in Colorado would have more snow on Friday than at least one of the chosen cities in Wisconsin would have on Saturday. The table below shows snowfall amounts in Colorado and Wisconsin for both days, as reported by the National Weather Service.

Colorado and Wisconsin Snowfall
City Friday Saturday
Colorado cities with more snow: 3
Colorado Springs, CO 0.9 None
Denver, CO 1.7 None
Pueblo, CO 2.2 None
Green Bay, WI Trace None
Madison, WI 1.1 0.7
Milwaukee, WI Trace 0.8

The lowest of the Wisconsin cities was Green Bay, getting no snowfall on Saturday. All three Colorado cities had snowfall on Friday, so this forecast is correct. As it turns out, all three of the Colorado cities had more snow on Friday than any of the Wisconsin cities did on Saturday. As an interesting note, Madison had more snow on Friday than Colorado Springs did, and a higher two day total than either Colorado Springs or Denver.

Golden SnowCast Results
Region Record Percentage
Overall 28-4 87.5%
NYS 14-2 87.5%
World 14-2 87.5%

Both forecasts were correct and the quest for 90% continues. The plan is to go up to four more forecasts. If I don’t have any more bye weeks, the end of this season’s Golden SnowCast should be in mid-April. I’m thinking about changing things up for next season, going toward more of a targeted scoring system (the closer to actual results the forecast is, the more points received), and adding a longer range forecast. More details on that will likely be given either toward the end of this season, or the beginning of the 2010-11 campaign.

Have a great week everyone!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 16

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on March 17, 2010
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , , .

First, a quick review on how the Golden SnowCast works. In each forecast post, I make two predictions, one for New York State (home of the Golden Snowball contest) and one for anywhere else in the World (most often somewhere in the USA). The idea is to make forecasts with some certainty to them. To achieve this, there will be no waffle words like “chance of” in any of the predictions. The goal is 90% accuracy by the end of the season.

You can also take part in the forecasts with something we like to call Stump the Weather Chump. Reply to this, or any Golden SnowCast or Stump the Weather Chump post. Include the area and element you would like covered. Try to keep it something for 2-3 days in advance, but I’ll try to be flexible with each request.

Spring officially arrives on Saturday, so I thought it would be a good idea to have some comparisons in my predictions this time.

Up first, as always, is the New York State outlook. Once again, it involves temperatures, but this time, it’s a look at the last day of Winter and the first day of Spring.

At least one of the Golden Snowball Cities will have warmer Saturday highs than Friday highs.

A cold front will be moving into the area on Saturday, which complicated this forecast. I initially said a majority would have warmer temperatures on Saturday, but now my confidence in that has shrunk. If at least one of the five GSB cities has warmer high temperatures on Saturday than on Friday, this forecast will be correct.

While there is warming in New York State, there is still signs of Winter in the United States. The World forecast compares snow totals for cities in Colorado and Wisconsin.

At least one of the 3 chosen Colorado cities will have more snow on Friday than one or more of the 3 selected Wisconsin cities receive on Saturday.

The cities used for verifying this forecast are Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo in Colorado and Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee in Wisconsin. If any one of the Colorado cities has more snow on Friday than any one of the Wisconsin cities receives on Saturday, this forecast will be correct.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 5 Results

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on December 27, 2009
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , , .

After last week’s epic failure, it’s time to see if my Christmas forecast was gold, or if it was nothing but coal.

For the New York State forecast, I said that a majority of the Upstate cities will have a white Christmas. My criteria was there must be either snow on the ground, or in the air. The table below shows the snow depth and snowfall amounts for the seven cities.

Upstate New York Snow
City Depth Fall
Cities with a white Christmas: At least 4
Albany 1 Trace
Binghamton 4 Trace
Buffalo Trace None
Glens Falls ?? None
Rochester 1 None
Syracuse 2 Trace
Watertown ?? None

Not exactly the whitest of Christmases for Upstate, but it was good enough for the forecast to be a success. I was unable to find snow depth data on Glens Falls and Watertown, so I couldn’t count them officially as having snow. So, at least 4, and at most 6, of the cities had snow accumulations on the ground. The one that didn’t was Buffalo, of all places, with just a trace.

The World forecast had the same idea: at least half of the major cities in Minnesota and Wisconsin would have a white Christmas. The criteria for white Christmas was the same as the NYS forecast. The table below shows the snow depth and snowfall statistics from the National Weather Service.

Minnesota and Wisconsin Snow
City Depth Fall
Cities with a white Christmas: 4
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN 12 2.0
Green Bay, WI 8 0.1
Madison, WI 5 1.0
Milwaukee, WI 2 None

This forecast also proved to be right. All four cities had some snow depth and at least two of them had measurable snow. Snow fall data for Madison and Milwaukee are missing according to NWS. But by using the next day’s amounts, I was able to make an estimate on Friday’s snowfall. I am not sure how accurate those two are, but that is not a big concern (at least for verifying this forecast since all had some snow depth anyway).

Golden SnowCast Results
Region Record
Overall Percentage: 70%
NYS 3-2
World 4-1
Overall 7-3

A successful week puts me at 70% after 10 forecasts. The only truly awful forecast so far was last week’s World. While there are 2 misses on the NYS side, at least both of those were close. I suppose the other forecasts that could be considered bad were from a few weeks ago with wind gusts for NYS and temperatures for Ontario, Canada. But those were correct and had the right idea. The PA snowfall forecast was just lousy. So, while my percentage is not where I’d like it, I’m still fairly happy with the first 10 forecasts as a whole. I have a feeling I’m going to need some luck with the next 10 forecasts though, but only time will tell how those end up performing.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

Golden SnowCast Forecast 5

Posted by GSG Fantasy Snowfall on December 22, 2009
Posted in: The Golden SnowCast. Tagged: , , , , , .

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. Will that remain a dream, or become reality? It’s the Golden SnowCast Christmas Special!

For the New York State forecast, I’m bringing in all the Upstate New York cities that have NWS stations. This includes all the Golden Snowball cities plus Glens Falls and Watertown.

A majority of the Upstate New York cities will have a white Christmas this year.

For it to be a “white Christmas” there must be either snow on the ground, or snow falling. It is my believe that all the Upstate cities will have a white Christmas, but after last week’s debacle, I’m giving myself some leeway. Part of the issue is that from what I’ve seen, Glens Falls and Watertown don’t report snow depth, which is I will be using to determine if there is snow on the ground this Friday. I can’t really assume there is snow on the ground, so if there isn’t snow falling on Christmas, there would already be 2 cities missed. As long as there are 4 or more Upstate cities that have my definition of a white Christmas, this forecast will be correct.

For the World forecast, it’s a look at Minnesota and Wisconsin.

At least half of the major cities in Minnesota and Wisconsin will have a white Christmas this year.

Same rules apply here, it must either be snowing or have snow on the ground on Friday to be considered a white Christmas. The major cities are Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN and Green Bay, Madison and Milwaukee, WI. At least two of the four of these cities must meet my standard for White Christmas for the forecast to be correct. Just like with the NYS forecast, my hunch is that all four will meet the requirements, but I’m playing a little bit to the safe side this week.

Have a great week everyone!