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Lee Pomeroy of Manlius makes the first toss for her team 'Irish Ayes,' during the sixth annual Irish Road Bowling tournament on Sunday at Onondaga Lake Park: This weekend's snowfall pushed Syracuse to the top of the national Golden Snow Globe contest.

(Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com)

This news will be a little easier to smile about on a sunny day, with the temperature on the AXA Towers reading a mild 44 degrees:

Syracuse - knocked off its usual throne a year ago - has moved up to 116 inches of snow, putting our city in first place in the annual contest to become the snowiest city in the nation with a population above 100,000.

The national large city rankings are monitored by Pat DeCoursey of East Syracuse, who keeps track of both the Golden Snowball competition, which includes only large cities in New York, and the Golden Snow Globe - which measures national totals for large cities.

Syracuse took the lead Sunday - DeCoursey believes it's the first time we've been on top all season - thanks to eight/tenths of an inch of snow. At 116 inches, we're just ahead of Worcester, Mass. at 115.6, Lowell, Mass. at 114.5 and Buffalo at 109.3 - while Boston, typically not a leader in these contests, is now at a record-setting 108.6 inches.



Erie, Pa., the defending champ, has about 104 inches, ranks sixth and is a foot behind, but DeCoursey has followed the trends long enough to know the race remains wide open, even if we've made it to the stretch run for the winter.

For all these cities, he said, first place "is only a storm away."

One more touch of consolation: If 116 inches feels like a lot, our snow totals in Syracuse are nothing compared to Copenhagen, a Tug Hill community that - as Glenn Coin recently reported - has gone beyond 21 feet of snow.



-- Sean Kirst