By Erie Times-news

Published: Saturday, February 16, 2013, 5:57 p.m.
Updated: Saturday, February 16, 2013

Erie is the second-snowiest and hanging tough in the Golden Snow Globe contest for cities larger than 100,000.

The 70.9 inches of snow measured at Erie International Airport this season, through Thursday, trails only the 72.3 inches of Syracuse, N.Y., according to the contest's National Weather Service data.

Erie is behind Erie County's other city, Corry, where snow spotter Gerald Owens had measured 78.5 inches as of Friday. But Corry isn't eligible because of population.

Notably lagging in this year's snow derby are No. 5 Rochester, N.Y., with a measly 52 inches; No. 9 Buffalo, with 46.1 inches; and unranked Cleveland, with 31.1 inches.

Nationally, Erie has a good lead on usually snowy No. 4 Salt Lake City (56.7 inches), No. 8 Anchorage (46.8 inches) and unranked Spokane (38.5 inches).

New to the race are some spots in New England that were clobbered when a powerful winter storm hit earlier this month. No. 3 Worcester, Mass., received 63.5 inches this season, with nearly 30 inches falling so far this month. No. 6 Bridgeport, Conn., has collected 51.2 inches, while Hartford (44.6 inches) and Boston (35.6 inches) remain unranked.

There is, of course, plenty of winter left, which means Erie still has time to get back to normal levels in terms of seasonal snowfall. A typical winter in Erie features 75.5 inches of snow through Feb. 14, leaving the city 4.6 inches shy of normal for the moment.

An average Erie winter features 101.2 inches, according to the weather service.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Cleveland were calling for a chance of snow showers Saturday and Sunday in Erie, as temperatures dropped back into the teens and low 20s for the weekend. Monday should be sunny, and rain is possible Monday night and Tuesday before snow returns for the middle of this week, forecasters said.

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