The Golden Snowball: Binghamton’s Quest For Snowfall Supremacy

For those of you who are not a fan of snow, you can thank me now.

That sounds a bit strange, but I have my reason, You see, after many decades of shoveling snow each winter with beat-up snow shovels (too stingy to buy a new one, I guess), I decided to take the leap.

After the Southern Tier experienced a large snowfall a few winters ago, I finally decided to purchase a snowblower. I've never had one before and didn't have a clue how to operate one.

Well, fast forward three winters to now, and I've only needed to use this snowblower a handful of times. So it must be true - buy a snowblower and Mother Nature will let up on the amount of yearly heavy snowstorms. Or at least that's what I'd like to think.

Anyway, did you know that Binghamton is included in an online five-city New York State snowfall competition every year? In the winter of 2020-2021, we had that 3 to 4-foot snowfall, putting us over the top and we won the award for most snowfall in a season over the other four cities.

Okay, there is no actual "award." It's just bragging rights if you will. Not sure that's something to brag about!

What Is The Golden Snowball?

The website is Golden Snowball.com, and this is the 20th year for this fun competition between Binghamton, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany. Check out past years back to 1940.

So far this winter (2023-2024), Buffalo is in first place with 53.5 inches of snow as of January 29, 2024, and coming in second is Binghamton with 35 inches of snow.

I didn't think we would have accumulated that much snow so far, but that is on the low side since our average according to the Golden Snowball at this time of year is around 45 inches.

Rochester is on our heels though with 34.4 inches, followed by Syracuse at 27.9 inches and Albany with a paltry 21.3 inches of snow. To be honest, I'd prefer we come last in this competition.

But for those who love snow...I say bring it on. After all, I now am the proud owner of a rarely used snowblower.