The Golden Snowball Award is an annual award presented to the city in Upstate New York that receives the most snowfall in a season. The original award was the result of a friendly competition between National Weather Service offices in Upstate New York.

Originally conceived after the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977, the competition died out after the Rochester and Syracuse offices closed in the mid-1990s. However, the award was revived during the 2002–2003 snowfall season when Patrick DeCoursey started up a website to inform people about the past competition. Syracuse won the 2002-2003 season and they won every year from then through the 2010–2011 season as well. In the 2011–2012 season, Rochester was the first city other than Syracuse to win since the award's revival. They also received temporary possession of a trophy for the year. The original competition's trophy has been lost, prompting its replacement with a new one donated by a trophy shop in Syracuse. The current Golden Snowball trophy resides in Syracuse City Hall.

Compared to Syracuse's average snowfall of 127.8 inches, or over 10 feet per year, New York City's annual snow average is a relatively small 2–3 feet per year in the city and about 3–4 feet per year in nearby suburbs. This is due to a number of factors, including lower latitude and oceanic influence keeping much of the precipitation as rain in the winter, combined with distance from the Great Lakes keeping the city well away from the influence of lake-effect snow. For the first time ever, during the 2005–2006 winter season New York City did have more snowfall than Albany, mainly due to the Blizzard of 2006, which was the city's biggest snowfall to date, while Albany was on the extreme northern fringe.

The cities that compete for the award are:

Albany Binghamton Buffalo Rochester Syracuse

Until the 2006–2007 season, several other cities with different methods of measuring snow than the five competing cities https://goldensnowball.com/about-the-snow-contest/ also competed for a smaller award, that includes a $50 check. These are:

Fulton Oswego Utica Watertown

Winners of the Golden Snowball

2002–2003: Syracuse 2003–2004: Syracuse 2004–2005: Syracuse 2005–2006: Syracuse 2006–2007: Syracuse 2007–2008: Syracuse 2008–2009: Syracuse 2009–2010: Syracuse 2010–2011: Syracuse 2011–2012: Rochester 2012–2013: Syracuse 2013–2014: Syracuse 2014–2015: Syracuse 2015–2016: Syracuse 2016–2017: Binghamton 2017–2018: Syracuse 2018–2019: Buffalo (Mayor Refused Award) 2019–2020: Rochester 2020–2021: Binghamton 2021–2022: Buffalo 2022–2023: Buffalo 2023–2024: Buffalo 2024–2025: Syracuse 2025–2026: Syracuse

Snowfall by season

Note: Official National Weather Service snowfall statistics were not kept at the current locations for Binghamton and Syracuse until the 1951–52 season.

All measurements are in inches. SeasonAlbanyBinghamtonBuffaloRochesterSyracuseCity With Most Snow1940-4151.779.373.7Buffalo1941-4245.289.666.3Buffalo1942-4345.085.570.6Buffalo1943-4448.658.046.1Buffalo1944-4566.8120.794.7Buffalo1945-4654.9110.549.5Buffalo1946-4743.165.475.5Rochester1947-4890.042.163.4Albany1948-4944.240.150.9Rochester1949-5062.688.781.7BuffaloSeasonAlbanyBinghamtonBuffaloRochesterSyracuseCity With Most Snow1950-5148.371.475.8Rochester1951-5269.472.283.075.8100.5Syracuse1952-5346.070.455.941.779.4Syracuse1953-5448.465.189.977.591.3Syracuse1954-5536.694.884.869.2101.4Syracuse1955-5680.2122.6105.2121.4146.8Syracuse1956-5770.390.2113.779.276.1Buffalo1957-5874.4111.0124.7130.8143.8Syracuse1958-5963.278.7114.5140.6137.2Rochester1959-6060.1105.3115.6161.7134.8RochesterSeasonAlbanyBinghamtonBuffaloRochesterSyracuseCity With Most Snow1960-6172.799.7102.489.4130.5Syracuse1961-6262.665.6101.465.677.3Buffalo1962-6371.395.389.876.4118.3Syracuse1963-6477.0103.371.592.083.8Binghamton1964-6545.876.470.971.197.3Syracuse1965-6667.183.798.3103.2118.8Syracuse1966-6780.988.566.174.087.5Binghamton1967-6842.263.671.676.781.2Syracuse1968-6963.364.578.479.899.7Syracuse1969-7087.7115.8120.5119.6127.6SyracuseSeasonAlbanyBinghamtonBuffaloRochesterSyracuseCity With Most Snow1970-71112.5108.697.0142.7157.2Syracuse1971-7289.3106.2109.9105.1133.7Syracuse1972-7370.967.778.873.082.2Syracuse1973-7458.386.788.799.1123.2Syracuse1974-7554.667.195.691.2105.5Syracuse1975-7654.276.382.586.295.8Syracuse1976-7770.674.4199.492.1145.0Buffalo1977-7892.4115.3154.3160.9161.2Syracuse1978-7963.580.097.3138.5118.5Rochester1979-8027.456.868.472.293.4SyracuseSeasonAlbanyBinghamtonBuffaloRochesterSyracuseCity With Most Snow1980-8144.959.360.994.479.0Rochester1981-8297.181.6112.4128.4137.3Syracuse1982-8375.081.052.459.966.0Binghamton1983-8465.270.9132.5118.0113.6Buffalo1984-8541.362.5107.287.1116.4Syracuse1985-8662.576.3114.770.7105.3Buffalo1986-8780.678.867.567.1103.4Syracuse1987-8876.781.656.469.8113.2Syracuse1988-8919.047.867.486.697.8Syracuse1989-9057.974.893.7105.8153.0SyracuseSeasonAlbanyBinghamtonBuffaloRochesterSyracuseCity With Most Snow1990-9128.767.057.568.396.9Syracuse1991-9230.756.092.8110.6167.0Syracuse1992-9394.2122.793.2131.5192.1Syracuse1993-9488.1131.3112.7126.2163.8Syracuse1994-9530.952.874.656.266.9Buffalo1995-9686.5134.0141.4130.3170.9Syracuse1996-9766.693.097.6104.7131.1Syracuse1997-9852.392.075.699.7134.7Syracuse1998-9944.173.3100.5111.698.3Rochester1999-0062.182.463.6110.785.8RochesterSeasonAlbanyBinghamtonBuffaloRochesterSyracuseCity With Most Snow2000-0177.1112.6158.7133.0191.9Syracuse2001-0247.463.5132.458.159.4Buffalo2002-03105.4117.6111.3135.2153.2Syracuse2003-0465.1106.4100.9125.6181.3Syracuse2004-0575.9106.5109.1113.6136.2Syracuse2005-0630.274.978.273.9124.6Syracuse2006-0745.978.688.9107.2140.2Syracuse2007-0861.170.7103.8106.0109.1Syracuse2008-0952.673.3100.2103.7149.6Syracuse2009-1045.481.474.190.2106.3SyracuseSeasonAlbanyBinghamtonBuffaloRochesterSyracuseCity With Most Snow2010-1187.2117.5111.8127.0179.0Syracuse2011-1223.343.536.759.950.6Rochester2012-1351.469.158.878.1115.4Syracuse2013-1473.585.4129.9112.7132.0Syracuse2014-1575.993.4112.9101.9119.7Syracuse2015-1616.932.055.163.780.3Syracuse2016-1760.8135.276.1107.1134.9Binghamton2017-1877.390.6112.3120.5153.6Syracuse2018-1955.481.4118.897.1115.0Buffalo2019-2049.779.169.291.887.6Rochester2020-2154.6105.077.269.673.3Binghamton2021-2236.481.897.487.076.0Buffalo2022-2355.061.5133.650.465.6Buffalo2023-2431.847.871.352.560.8Buffalo2024-2543.980.177.388.3115.4Syracuse2025-2658.475.892.5114.1143.1Syracuse

Snowiest Season for all Golden Snowball Cities: Buffalo 199.4 inches (1976-77)

Least Snowiest Season for all Golden Snowball Cities: Albany 13.8 inches (1912-13)

Max, min, and average snowfall by city Albany Max: 112.5 inches (1970-71)

Min: 13.8 inches (1912-13)

Average: 59.2 inches

Binghamton Max: 135.2 inches (2016-17)

Min: 32.0 inches (2015-16)

Average: 86.5 inches

Buffalo Max: 199.4 inches (1976-77)This is due to the Blizzard of 77.

Min: 36.7 inches (2011-12)

Average: 95.4 inches

Rochester Max: 161.7 inches (1959-60)

Min: 41.7 inches (1952-53)

Average: 102.0 inches

Syracuse Max: 192.1 inches (1992-93)

Min: 50.6 inches (2011-12)

Average: 127.8 inches

References

Golden Snowball is symbol of upstate winters. So where is it? by Sean Kirst for The Buffalo News; December 15, 2016.

External links The Golden Snowball Award