Golden Snowball Award

The Golden Snowball Award is an annual award presented to the Upstate New York city that receives the most snowfall in a season. The original award was the result of a friendly competition of National Weather Service offices in Upstate. After the Rochester and Syracuse offices closed in the mid-1990s, the competition died out.

The award was revived during the 2002-2003 snowfall season, in which Syracuse won. It had won every year from then through the 2010-11 season as well. In the 2011-12 season, Rochester was the first city other than Syracuse to win since the award's revival. The prize is accompanied by a ceremonial $100 check to one of that city's school's hat and mitten drive.

Compared to Syracuse's average snowfall of 116.9 inches, or nearly 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 due to the oceanic influence keeping much of the precipitation as rain in the winter. For the first time ever, during the 2005-06 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 ever, 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 smaller cities also competed for a smaller award, that includes a $50 check. These are:

• Fulton
• Oswego
• Utica
• Watertown