Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

In case you haven't noticed, it's been snowing in upstate New York. New York's governor Eliot Spitzer declared Oswego County a disaster emergency, where five straight days of lake-effect squalls have dumped nearly 100 inches of snow, and even more snow is forecast through the weekend! Parts of the county were getting as much as 3 inches of snow an hour said Dave Sage, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

I always laugh when people in Iowa complain about the snow. Sharon and I lived in Syracuse, New York from 1977-1991 and we experienced real snowfall. Let me tell you, upstate New York knows snow. Consider these facts:

• Syracuse is the nation's snowiest metropolitan region, averaging 114.6 inches every winter!
• The biggest snow plow in the world is the 32-foot, 3-inch blade attached to a payloader at Hancock Airport in Syracuse. The 48-inch tall piece of steel can clear 8,500 cubic yards of snow in an hour.
• The Tug Hill Plateau just north of Syracuse is the snowiest place east of the Rocky Mountains. Some winters, more than 400 inches fall.
• The winter of 1977, the first year we were married, Syracuse recorded 161.2 inches of snowfall!

The heavy snow is due to the proximity to Lake Ontario. It is a light, fluffy, lake-effect type of snow. It's easier to shovel, but once you get over 100 inches, you are trying to throw it up and over banks that are over your head!

So Iowan's, don't you dare complain about the snow. Cedar Rapids averages only 34.4 inches of snow a year. And I can't even remember the last time we had a "white Christmas." Bring it on! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!