Bob CollinsI bought one of those reflective snow sticks this year, part of my civic duty to help the snowplow operators see where the side of the road ends and the News Cut winter estate begins.
Alas, it’s about to be swallowed by the flotsam of winter.
There’s no place left to put the snow.
Here are the preliminary results of this round of the Golden Snowball Challenge (details here). We have a National Weather Service advisory that a trained spotter measured 8.4″ at Como Park. And the NWS reports a cooperative weather observer reports 7.7 at the U of M St. Paul campus. The 7.7″ total was reported at 2:30 this afternoon, so preliminarily, I’m using that as the official measurement.
These numbers may well be challenged, but for now here are the results:
| Meteorologist |
Range
|
Average
|
Diff
|
Points
|
| Erik Maitland (KMSP) |
5-10
|
7.5
|
-0.2
|
9
|
| Paul Huttner (MPR) |
5-10
|
7.5
|
-0.2
|
9
|
| Chikage Windler (KSTP) |
5-11
|
8
|
0.3
|
8
|
| National Weather Service |
6-10
|
8
|
0.3
|
8
|
| Mike Fairbourne (WCCO) |
6-8
|
7
|
-0.7
|
7
|
| Craig Edwards |
6
|
6
|
-1.7
|
-5
|
| Ron Trenda (WCCO) |
9-13
|
11
|
3.3
|
-8
|
| Sven Sundgaard (KARE) |
3-6
|
4.5
|
-3.2
|
-8
|
| Ian Leonard (KMSP) |
4-6
|
5
|
-2.7
|
-8
|
And the updated season standings (again, these are prelimianry):
| Meteorologist |
Rounds
|
Total Points
|
Average
|
| Patrick Hammer (KSTP) |
3
|
25
|
8.3
|
| Chikage Windler (KSTP) |
2
|
15
|
7.5
|
| Mike Fairbourne (WCCO) |
2
|
14
|
7.0
|
| Paul Huttner (MPR) |
5
|
26
|
5.2
|
| Erik Maitland (KMSP) |
2
|
9
|
4.5
|
| Jonathan Yuhas (KARE) |
2
|
7
|
3.5
|
| National Weather Service |
5
|
12
|
2.4
|
| Paul Douglas (MinnPost) |
3
|
1
|
0.3
|
| Sven Sundgaard (KARE) |
2
|
0
|
0.0
|
| Chris Shaffer (WCCO) |
2
|
-2
|
-1.0
|
| Don Moldenhauer (BMTN) |
1
|
-5
|
-5.0
|
| Belinda Jensen (KARE) |
1
|
-5
|
-5.0
|
| Mike Augustyniak (WCCO |
2
|
-10
|
-5.0
|
| Dave Dahl (KSTP) |
2
|
-10
|
-5.0
|
| Keith Marler (KMSP) |
3
|
-18
|
-6.0
|
| Ron Trenda (WCCO) |
2
|
-13
|
-6.5
|
| Craig Edwards (MPR) |
2
|
-15
|
-7.5
|
| Ian Leonard (KMSP) |
3
|
-24
|
-8.0
|
Craig Edwards again placed first in the senior division.
