SNOW KIDDIN’: Believe it or not, Buffalo, N.Y., is not the
snowiest large city in the United States, according to the National
Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. It’s Rochester, N.Y.

The Center tells us that the determination was made by examining
National Weather Service records for 1961 through 1990. And
Rochester averaged the highest – 94 inches of snow a year.

The most snowfall from one storm was likely in 1953, when almost
187 inches of snow fell in seven days on Thompson Pass, Alaska,
according to the National Snowfall and Snow Depth Extremes Table
provided by the National Climatic Data Center.

Annually, 105 snow-producing storms affect the continental
United States. Most of those storms will last two to five days.

Practically every location in the United States has seen
snowfall, even most of southern Florida.

Snow is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. residents
each year, primarily from traffic accidents, over-exertion and
exposure.

“The greatest snowfall officially reported at the Phoenix,
Ariz., National Weather Service Office was one inch. That occurred
twice. The first time was Jan. 20, 1933. It happened again four
years later on the same date.”

“In the western United States, mountain snow pack contributes up
to 75 percent of all year-round surface water supplies.”

The national average amount of snow fall per day is two inches,
but some mountainous western states see an average of seven
inches.

By now, even non-skiers understand the terminology skiers
created in the early 1900s to describe types of snow: fluffy snow,
powder snow, and sticky snow.

But now terms include “champagne powder” meaning machine-made
snow; “corduroy” snow for snow that has been repeatedly groomed by
snow cats; and “mashed potatoes” snow, or spring snow that has
softened and melted in the warmer air, becoming heavier and
wetter.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Our keeping of secrets has often misled and
confused our own people but has been ineffective in denying
information to our enemies or competitors … Let us pass a law
requiring all secret documents to be published one year after their
issuance.”

Despite it’s timeliness, the comment was made by nuclear
physicist Edward Teller in 1992, according to our Freedom Forum
calendar.