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

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

Bonnie — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:40:09 GMT

How were the remainders of those winters in terms of snowfall?

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

GSB Snowman — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:42:38 GMT

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!

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

Jim Teske — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:40:02 GMT

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

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

Bill — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:14:07 GMT

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.

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

Darrell Marcy — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:17:02 GMT

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.

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

Tom2 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:38:53 GMT

Good morning! I am psyched about the brief warmup next week. What do you see for February???

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

GSB Snowman — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:20:59 GMT

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.

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

Jim Teske — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:11:17 GMT

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

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

Shawn — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:10:43 GMT

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

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

Jan Sterling — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:20:49 GMT

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

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

Jan Sterling — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:39:04 GMT

I'm sorry, let me edit my above comment. I did sub for Horace Meredith in 1975

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

Bonnie — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:43:26 GMT

Thanks for the reseach Jim! Looks like it might be on average a touch below average for those winters. Sounds great to me!!!

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

Shawn — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:22:15 GMT

Another boring week ahead huh Dave? What's up with Friday's weather? A snow maker for us?

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

Shawn2 — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:55:44 GMT

Shawn-go move to Alaska

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

Tom2 — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:32:45 GMT

Dave- Any outlook on February?

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

Shawn — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:09:02 GMT

Shawn2--Are you the old man I told to go fall into a snowbank and not get up? Nice comeback---You REALLY got me

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

KBC — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:10:01 GMT

This WINTER is DEPRESSING! Please God bring some SNOW STORMS!...no, not some....ALOT!

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

KBC — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:32:04 GMT

This WINTER is DEPRESSING! Please God bring some SNOW STORMS!...no, not some....ALOT!

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

KBC — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:18:19 GMT

SORRY. DID NOT mean to post 2xs...but it is doubly depressing....bring on Spring!

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

Dan — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:50:03 GMT

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)