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Teske's Tidbits (1/24/08) The One About January Snow

As you all know I really get into numbers and the January and seasonal snowfall numbers for Syracuse are really interesting.  First, here we are 3 weeks into January and we’ve had 4.2” of snow. Of course, in Oswego County that was an hour’s worth of snow during last weekend’s lake effect storm. Heck, up until a couple of days ago places across North and South Carolina had more snow than us this January!  I’m not going to get into whether that’s good or bad that Syracuse has had only 4”.  I know there are strong opinions so it either puts a big grin on your face or you have a frown.  However, with the end of the month fast approaching I did do some digging to find out how we stack up this January compared to other least snowy Januarys.  Here are the all-time least snowy Januarys:

 

1.4”                  1933

3.0”                  1921

3.6”                  1916

6.0”                  1930

7.5”                  1932

 

 

Notice the dates.  They all occurred before 1949 when snowfall was recorded in the city of Syracuse or out in Amboy (western Onondaga County).   If you look at only years when records were taken at Hancock Field (after 1949) we are actually in first place:

 

11.8”                1975

11.9”                1973

12.1”                2006

13.4”                1995

13.6”                1962

 

Of course there is still a long way to go.  We’ve got squalls around Syracuse later tonight and early Friday that could add a quick couple of inches and there will be at least chances for snow from time to time over the next week.  Let’s see what happens over the next 7 days.

 

The other number I’ve been watching closely is the seasonal snowfall.  Last week I touched upon this a bit but now, as of Tuesday, the seasonal snowfall was 60” and what started out as well above normal snowfall for the season through mid December (On December 16th we were 28” above normal!) is now officially slightly below normal.

 

Today was a bit of milestone in the Lake Effect Challenge on Y 94. I officially passed the $20 mark by mentioning lake effect 3 times. At the end of the winter the money will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Also today we are a mere 3 weeks away from Spring Training and just yesterday I received the ‘Spring’ LL Bean catalog.

Published Thursday, January 24, 2008 11:17 AM by Jim Teske

Comments

 

Bonnie said:

How were the remainders of those winters in terms of snowfall?
January 24, 2008 10:40 AM
 

GSB Snowman said:

Jim, for some reason this is a record that I hope we don't even come in the top ten for.  Something I found interesting while looking up some snow stats today was that out of the 5 GSB cities Syracuse is in last place for this January's snowfall totals.  Even Albany has had more snow than us most likely due to the Nor Easters that have been popping up.  Great blog you have here Jim and the rest and I love coming here and make it a point to see what's going on.  Thanks!
January 24, 2008 12:42 PM
 

Jim Teske said:

GSB Snowman,

Thanks for the comments. I think I figured out who you are ;) (GSB=Golden Snowball Award).  For those of you who are unfamiliar, many years ago the National Weather Service office locally had a competition over who would have the most seasonal snow between Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. The winner would get a trophy.  It was called the Golden Snowball Award. That unofficial contest fell by the wayside but now it's been revived and a local Syracuse resident is carrying the touch.  He even has a web site:

http://goldensnowball.com/

It's good reading.

Jim

January 24, 2008 7:40 PM
 

Bill said:

Hey Jim--Quick question for you.  You guys are forecasting 2-5 inches over us tonight here in Syr, yet, some "other" forecasts are saying an inch or less.  Just wondering your reasoning behind this.  
January 24, 2008 9:14 PM
 

Darrell Marcy said:

Did you guys know that yesterday was the midpoint of winter.  I've calculated it a couple of ways and both come out to Jan 23.  Somewhere, maybe the National Weather Service, I read that winter was defined as the period that the average temperature is 30 degrees or less.  For us that is Dec 13 through March 5, the day in the middle is Jan 23.  If you say what are the coldest three months in average temperatue, for us it's Dec 9 through March 9 and again the day in the middle is Jan 23.

Obviously there are other definitions of the winter season, like between the solstice and the equinox.  This, I believe, is called astronomical winter.  A temperature based definition of winter has always seemed more important to me.
January 24, 2008 9:17 PM
 

Tom2 said:

Good morning! I am psyched about the brief warmup next week. What do you see for February???
January 25, 2008 8:38 AM
 

GSB Snowman said:

Jim, yes this is Pat and thanks for the kind words about the site.  I'm just the official score keeper for the Golden Snowball contest and of course the stats all come from NOAA to keep them official.  It's still a city rivalry contest and Dennis Brogan as I'm sure you already know pretty much handles the city of Syracuse's side of the contest.  He is also the keeper of the trophy as long as Syracuse keeps winning it. He might end up dusting it one more time before passing it along to Rochester for a season if we don't start getting the snow here in DaCuse.  Good call on the snowfall for overnight by the way.  I was reading pretty much what Bill mentioned about a trace or so.  We received about 3 inches just outside of East Syracuse and once again thanks for all the great reading here.
January 25, 2008 12:20 PM
 

Jim Teske said:

Bonnie,

Here are the snow totals the rest of the winter for the 5 airport years I listed above:

1962        31.9"
1973        59.9"
1975        23.4
1995       39.4"
2006       51.1"

The average for Syracuse from February 1 on is 47.7"

Darrell,

Thanks for the calculations on the middle of winter.  I've heard of going by the coldest 3 months of the year but I hadn't heard of the 30 degree cut off.  My middle of winter number (January 15) was more unofficial and just a convenient round number.

Bill,

I know it's a little after the fact but I think what we saw on our computer models last evening was a band of lake effect trying to set up close to Syracuse overnight.  We weren't getting much help from the upper Great Lakes but the air aloft (5,000 ft) was still as cold  Thursday night as it was during the day. We figured snowfall of an inch and hour in the band when coming up with our snowfall forecast.  By the way,  the airport we had 4.4" of snow and we nearly doubled our January total.

The weather looks pretty quick by January standards the next couple of days so have a good weekend.

Jim
January 25, 2008 7:11 PM
 

Shawn said:

Congrats to you guys for a great forecast for the Lake Effect here last night (Thursday night).  As Bill said, I saw the "other" guys forecasting a D-1'' of snow for SYR.  Right.

Have a good weekend Jim
January 25, 2008 9:10 PM
 

Jan Sterling said:

I agree with Shawn's comments. I didn't expect much in our area and was quite surprised to observe our accumulation Fri. morning (25 Jan.) and I've been forecasting in CNY, mostly as a hobby since the middles 60s though I didn't sub for Horace Meredith on the radio back in 1975
January 26, 2008 5:20 AM
 

Jan Sterling said:

I'm sorry, let me edit my above comment. I did sub for Horace Meredith in 1975
January 26, 2008 5:39 AM
 

Bonnie said:

Thanks for the reseach Jim!  Looks like it might be on average a touch below average for those winters.  Sounds great to me!!!
January 27, 2008 9:43 AM
 

Shawn said:

Another boring week ahead huh Dave?  What's up with Friday's weather?  A snow maker for us?
January 28, 2008 4:22 AM
 

Shawn2 said:

Shawn-go move to Alaska
January 28, 2008 7:55 AM
 

Tom2 said:

Dave- Any outlook on February?
January 28, 2008 9:32 AM
 

Shawn said:

Shawn2--Are you the old man I told to go fall into a snowbank and not get up?  Nice comeback---You REALLY got me
January 28, 2008 3:09 PM
 

KBC said:

This WINTER is DEPRESSING!  Please God bring some SNOW STORMS!...no, not some....ALOT!  
January 28, 2008 4:10 PM
 

KBC said:

This WINTER is DEPRESSING!  Please God bring some SNOW STORMS!...no, not some....ALOT!  
January 28, 2008 4:32 PM
 

KBC said:

SORRY. DID NOT mean to post 2xs...but it is doubly depressing....bring on Spring!
January 28, 2008 10:18 PM
 

Dan said:

Here are the snow totals the rest of the winter for the 5 airport years I listed above:

1962        31.9"
1973        59.9"
1975        23.4
1995       39.4"
2006       51.1"

The average for Syracuse from February 1 on is 47.7"

Are these snowfall totals for the rest of the season or for the entire winter season?  Also I may have missed it, but what what does the remainder of the winter season look like in terms of actual snowfall for Syracuse(namely the Onondaga Hill/Fairmount area)
January 29, 2008 4:50 PM
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