It's Only a Matter of Time

First off GO CUSE!!!!! Great game against Cal guys :) Next up UNC or Ohio.

OK, I was just looking at a lot of last years stats for the GSB cities and came to the conclusion that we are having a pretty similar start so far this season. Well, other than Syracuse still has a shot at that longest time without an inch of snow record.

All of the cities are within a couple of inches of last years totals to date. The only thing that may be a little different is that this is about the time that some snow started to fall last season. Right now there really isn't much in the forecast for snow as far as I've seen. Maybe sometime next week toward the end of it.

November was a so-so month and December was a kick butt month. By the end of November the snowfall stats were something like;

Syracuse
16.7

Binghamton
15.6

Rochester
11.1

Buffalo
6.3

Albany
0.5


The real snow started falling right around the 10th of December and by the end of December the snow stats were something like;

Syracuse
68.4

Buffalo
45.6

Rochester
45.6

Binghamton
32.7

Albany
20.8

It will be interesting to see if we have a similar season as the last one. If we end up with close to the same totals as we all had by the end of December look out. I don't think we will be as lucky as we were last season as far as hardly any snow toward the end of the contest.

As far as the new contest goes I'm still looking up city stats but Colorado seems to be cleaning up so far. Some of the cities have 2 - 3 foot jump on us already.

Go Northeast!!! Have a Great Weekend All!

The New Snowiest City in The United States Contest

The Golden Snowball contest goes national. Well kind of but not really ;) The golden snowball contest will remain and a new one begins. After several years of prodding from our visitors to the GSB and snow fans from actually across the country a new contest has been born. It's called the Golden Snow Globe contest and can be found at goldensnowglobe.com .

Many people have asked in the past why not have a contest for the snowiest big city (population 100,000+) in the whole United States? I've always loved the idea of it and it was just a matter of making sure I would have the time to put into it. So far about 50 hours into just trying to find stats and throw the website up and there still isn't a whole lot to show for it.

With that said I'll be adding stuff to the site in the next couple of days and hopefully, a big HOPEFULLY at that I will have most of the city stats that I need. Whatever stats you may see at the new national snow contest site will e changed and brought up to date. In other words I wouldn't pay much attention to them right now.

Most likely one of the cities in Colorado are winning the contest right now but I still have a lot of city stats to put together. I know Colorado has had a couple of storms so far and at last check Denver had at least 17.2 inches. Probably more by now. Chances are none of the New York cities are even in the top ten right now.

Personally I think this will be a super fun contest with people from many other states chiming in about how they feel about getting a lot of snow. The competitiveness from snow lovers and haters for that matter should by itself make it a fun contest.

The plan right now will be to have a rolling top ten list on the main page at the Golden Snow Globe contest site. That meaning that as long as your city is one of top 10 snowiest cities in the US you'll be on the main page. If you drop out of the top 10 your history until you can grab some more of the white gold to make it back to the to ten list. We will try to have an updated page of all the cities though that have a chance at winning. Obviously I'm not going to waste too much time on states like Florida and the likes. No offense to those states of course but unless some really, Really freaky weather occurs ya just don't stand a chance.

A prize to the winning city is still in the process of being decided. Maybe a plague, trophy or a snow globe will be awarded to the winner each year. I'm also hoping to have some guests posting from different people from some of the snowier cities. Perhaps a TV Meteorologist or local news reporter. A regular visitor at GSB has a fun idea so look for some forecasts at the new site. Some other ideas are being tossed around and we definitely want to here some of your ideas.

Check out the site at goldensnowglobe but remember as I mentioned it's no wheres close to being ready. I figured that the first people to get a preview should be the regular visitors here at golden snowball.

Have a Super Day All!

The First Snowfall For Some of Us

Today was the first snowflakes that I've seen falling this season. Syracuse is finally posting at least a trace of snow and I'm sure once the National weather service does it's new update there will be measurable snow for at least a couple of the golden snowball cities. The snow was actually coming down pretty good and sticking for a little while this morning. Not a trace to be seen here in DaCuse now though.

Hopefully Buffalo and Rochester will be on the snow board also when the stats come out later. Binghamton has already seen a couple of inches so far this season and even added a .2 inches more to their totals yesterday. I'll try to do an update later when the stats come out from NOAA.

Computer problems (Bad Video Card) and another project I'm working on has been the reason for the lack of posts here. Well that plus I needed to see some of the white stuff to finally get me motivated. Of course looking at a couple of 50 - 60 degree days in the near future that motivation may die down a bit but it will return.

As for the project I've been working on I think most of you are going to like it. Ummm, at least 3 of the GSB cities will. I don't think Binghamton and Albany will be as enthused which is kind of a clue as to what I'm working on. I wanted to have it up and ready by November 1st but it's taking wayyyy longer than expected. I probably have about 30 hours into it with not a whole lot to show for those hours. Makes me think to myself, what the hell am I getting myself into. I'm psyched though and hopefully it works out and turns out to be a new, fun way to enjoy and pass the snowy months away. More to come soon!

Have a Great Day All!

Let The 2009 - 2010 Snow Games Begin

Binghamton has finally woken me from hibernating in my summer cave. Like it or not it's time to kick off the 2009 - 2010 Golden Snowball contest.

Getting off track as normal - I'm sitting here typing I was just thinking that we should have some kind of running with the torch like the Olympics do. Maybe start it off in Buffalo and keep coming east to Rochester, then head down to Binghamton, up to Albany and then finish off the run at the winning city, Syracuse :) I'm sure Sean Kirst could probably do the Albany to Syracuse run by himself :) Maybe it's time for the Golden Snowball Tour De CNY Race! Hey, it's just a thought.

Binghamton starts the contest off for the second year in a row (I think) with.2 inches of snow so far. Way to go Bingo!!! Ummm, a little early though don't ya think? Last season they started up the snow contest around October 27th.

I suppose with the cold, rainy weather we have been having it might as well be snowing out. I'm sure we will still be able to sneak some nice warm, sunny days in before we really get into the thick of it. The thick of the white gold that is :)

A shout out to ZR800 and Buffalo because they actually were the first to see some snow falling. Unfortunately it just added up to a trace. I have a feeling ZR probably has his sled tuned up already and is just waiting.

There should be a little bit of news coming in the next day or two or three about something in the works so keep checking back.

Enough for now and Good Luck to All the Golden Snowball Cities and remember, it's all in fun. Do ya have what it takes to beat DaCuse?

Syracuse Wins The 2008 - 2009 Golden Snowball Award

CONGRATS SYRACUSE

Winner of the 2008 - 2009 Golden Snowball Award

It's finally official and after a blowout season it's time to say those 3 words. It's a Wrap! Time to put this seasons contest in the books and way behind us. Congratulations Syracuse for winning the 2008 - 2009 golden snowball award with a respectable 149.6 inches of snow on the season! Should we cheer for another 4/10 of an inch to make it an even 150 inches of snowfall? I don't think so now that we have all gotten a taste of the nice spring weather we have been having.

The 2008 - 2009 Snow Season Summary

October - Binghamton started the 2008 - 2009 snow season out with the first snowfall right at the end of October with just under 3 inches to hold the first lead.

November - Bingo managed to hold the lead for a good part of November but then reality set in and Rochester bumped them out of first right around Nov. 20 - 21. Rochester's lead was pretty short lived though as Syracuse took over the King of The Snow Hill by November 22nd. Binghamton and Rochester sledded back and forth in the second place slot and both were pretty close to Syracuse all through November. Buffalo was still tuning up their snow making machine hoping it would be able to crank out enough snow this season to topple the now 6 repeat champion Syracuse.

December - December started off with Syracuse holding just an inch lead over Binghamton followed by Rochester, Buffalo and Albany. I think the biggest surprise for me was that Binghamton was able to hold on to second place all the way up until around December 17th when Rochester bumped them down to third place and then eventually Buffalo bumped them down to the number 4 spot where they would remain for the rest of the snow season. So much for my long shot pick :(

By the end of December Buffalo finally had it's snow machine, Lake Erie cranking and managed to slip by Rochester for second place right around the 26th - 27th. The only problem was that Syracuse was having one heck of a snowy December and was pulling away. By December 23rd, just a day or so after winter started Syracuse was already had half of their normal snow totals for the season.

I think the big news for December was Rochester had a record snowfall of 46.2 inches for the month of December, Syracuse received 57 inches of snow for it's 3rd snowiest December ever and the ice storm that hit several states with over 1,000,000 people without power including a lot in the Albany area.

January - Syracuse continued to hold a solid first place and also continued to add to their lead. Buffalo and Rochester in my opinion, at least at the time were still in the Golden Snowball race. Hey, winter just really began and we still had February and March left. Yeah! We'll get to March in a bit!

By about half way through January some of us in the Syracuse area were thinking maybe this was the season that the long sought after 200 inch mark could be accomplished. Syracuse getting closer to their annual snowfall with still a lot of winter to go. Buffalo managed to sneak past Rochester once again around Jan 19th and the battle for second place would go back and forth. In the mean time I think we were all starting to realize that it was looking like a 6 peat for Syracuse since the Golden Snowball contest was restarted up again. Still a lot of time left but Syracuse was pulling away and by the end of January had more than a 3 foot lead over second place. Things weren't looking good for Rochester or Buffalo.

I think the biggest news for January was that by the end of the month Syracuse already hit their annual snowfall totals which we updated here at goldensnowball.com to 121.1..

February - Same Ole, Same Ole! The battle for second place slid back and forth between Rochester and Buffalo and Syracuse continued to build on their lead. It came down to still being hopeful that Buffalo and Rochester would find a way to close the gap between them and Syracuse but as February slowly slipped by it was pretty much over. The New York snow contest for the 2008 - 2009 season was starting to be a blowout. What a difference a season makes as we think back to how close it was last season.

All in all February wasn't a bad month for snow. By the end of February Syracuse had a lead of almost 50 inches of snow. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which means *cough* Cough* another 6 weeks of winter which brings us into March.

March - Enough Said :) Punxsutawney Phil Who?

At least that some of us have been having nice weather.

Last I knew Redfield still had snow on the ground but it could be gone after this last batch of hot weather and rain. I was reading an article by Michelle Breidenbach in the Post Standard about Redfield and Carol Yerdon who measures the snow in Redfield, NY a week or so ago, put the paper down and went and cut the grass. So far I've had to cut the lawn 3 times and there is no doubt in my mind that one of the best scents in the world is that first smell of fresh cut grass. Rates right up there with the smell of chocolate cookies in the oven ;) Anyways, for those of you missing winter already check out the article at http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/anyone_who_thinks_they_got.html

Bring Back the Snow or at Least Spring Temps

What a nice stretch we have had up until the last couple of HOT days ;) While a lot of people get away for the winter months I'm trying to figure a good place to go for the Summer months. For some reason I have a feeling this is going to be a hot, hot summer ahead of us so I figure I'll start my whining today about how HOT it is ;)

Only a handful of days left before the 2008 - 2009 Golden Snowball contest goes down in the books so look for the announcement once May starts.. Of course we all know that it could have been called a lot sooner but I'm going with the comments and emails I received and we'll stick with the May 1st date.

Records are most likely being set in a coupe of the GSB cities and I saw the temp was 86 at Hancock airport here in Syracuse which I believe breaks the old record of 84 - 85? Enjoy the nice weather all and have a Super Weekend!

T-Shirt, Jacket, Coat?

Lets see? Wear a T-shirt out one day then a jacket, then a t-shirt and today the winter coat. I sure hope that wasn't our Spring that lasted a few days. Once again the snow is in the air after a nice 60 something degree day not too long ago. Light jackets, sweatshirts and winter coats are all laying around the house. Unfortunately it's still a little too early to put away the winter coats as today has proved but we all know somewhere, soon the steady more consistent days of warm weather will be here to stay. Won't they??? Sure they will and as much as I like the snow I'm ready for the 60 degree sunny days to come.

No doubt this season is in the bag for Syracuse and it's just a matter of hitting the call date which is May 1st. I know that seems kind of ridiculous of a date to end the contest each year but lets face it. It snows in April and if it's a close contest like it was last year every inch would matter. That's not a factor this season though. March fizzled out big time and I think it was the least snowiest on record or at least one of them most likely for all the GSB cities.

So here is a question for all of you that visit here. Would it be a good idea to maybe call the contest around April 1st if lets say a city has something like a 20 inch lead over the second place city? Example would be how this season went with Syracuse having a lead that is pretty much impossible to overcome even if a couple of freak storms were to hit the area. Just a thought and something I was thinking about running past Dennis Brogan who is the keeper of the trophy for the city of Syracuse. In my opinion if it was just a couple of inches separating the cities it couldn't be called until the end of April. JMO of course. Any thoughts?