Wow Wednesday-Snow

Well, it did snow yesterday; we estimate around four inches fell through the night.

In honor of the snow, today's Wow Wednesday relate to the winter weather. Buffalo, despite popular opinion, is not the snowiest place in the nation. According to Buffalo Research the snowiest city is Blue Canyon, California, (up near Lake Tahoe). The resource he took it from was published in 1994, so the items might be a little out of date. Yet, for someone who has lived in the region for the past twenty years, I can attest that it isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Granted, my town is often blocked from the snow because of Buffalo, but most of our terrible days come from surprise snowstorms such as the Friday the 13th storm in October, 2006.

We do have snowy winters in the Niagara Region. According to the National Weather Service the least snowiest winters have all been before 1950, with the late Victorian age containing three of the top ten. Out of the top ten snowiest winters, only two (1909/10 and 1944/45) were before 1950; all others have been since the 1950s, including the major Blizzard of '77 (which by the way was the snowiest winter in Buffalo).

Lancaster, on the other hand, rarely receives snow beyond a light dusting (where you can still see the grass). Since the beginning of the new millennium, the tradition has changed. According to Lancaster Online, four of the top ten (actually eleven since there was a tie) happened since 2000. Two of those happened in 2010, one in 2009 and one in 2003. Number 7 on the list was from 1993 - my personal favorite since I lived through that storm ... sort of. Because the storm was supposed to track to Niagara area, Dad wanted my sister and I to experience a 'real New York snowstorm', so he took us up to visit Grandma; meanwhile, the snowstorm hit Lancaster.

The following year (1994) would best be remembered as the year with ice. We had more days off in the 1993/1994 school year because of ice than we did the previous year with snow.

From living in the two regions, I have learned one very important concept concerning winter weather: it depends on how you look at it. Some people in the Niagara Region would hate a Lancaster winter due to the wet cold; while people from Lancaster prefer their once in awhile snowstorms over the endless hassle of snow all winter.

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving Day here, so I hope all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving. Also, Happy Hanukkah to everyone as well.