When I moved to upstate New York 17 years ago, my first or at least in the top two questions were, 'so you get a lot of snow here do ya and where is the best local ski area?'

I must admit my knowledge at that point was checking a Rand-McNally road map and looking for local ski areas within an hour or two drive from Utica. I saw several and one caught my eye. It was just East of here on I-90 called Shoemaker. I took a drive one Sunday to check it out and found it had closed about 10 years ago. That was not a good welcome to upstate or the answer to my first question about the total snowfall.

Niche.com compiled a list of the top 50 snowiest cities in the U.S. After checking their list I must admit I was very surprised we have 4 New York cities in the Top 25. Niche.com uses the 30-year average monthly snowfall totals for December through March as reported by NOAA and only include U.S. cities with populations above 50,000

Utica, New York came in at #6 with an average snowfall, 77.5 inches. At position 4, with an average of 82.9 inches is Buffalo, New York. Rochester came in at #4 with 87.8 inches. But it's Syracuse at in the top spot with a total of 110.0 inches.

So the answer to my first question is yes, we get a lot of snow here. In fact, were #1 when it comes to snow and winter sports are great in this part of the country.

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