Syracuse broke a record for the single snowiest day in recorded history this winter. Didn’t hear about it? That’s because no one knew it was broken.
For as long as records have been digitized, Syracuse’s snowiest day was listed as February 15th, 1946. But according to reporting by syracuse.com, the jaw-dropping 34 inches went completely unreported. None of the local papers made any mention of it.
News Channel Nine Chief Meteorologist Jim Teske said that when the final snowfall total on December 30th, 2025 came in at 24.2 inches, he knew it was day for the history books. But when he checked the national weather database and saw the chart for Syracuse snowfall records, he believed that it wasn’t enough to put it over the finish line.
“The top one [record] was 34 inches in 1946, and I saw we were 24 [inches]” said Teske. “I said, ‘well, we’re never going to make 34 inches.’” So I thought, ‘oh, we’re in the books at number two.’”
But one person didn’t buy it. “Well, about a week later, a viewer emailed me and said, you might want to check this. Something doesn’t seem right,” Teske said. “He had looked at the monthly data. He had gone deeper.”
What he found was rather compelling. For starters, only two inches of snow were reported to be on the ground the next day. That would’ve been impossible if there was three feet of snow the day prior. On top of that, the snowmelt for that day only measured 0.24 inches. “If you melt down snow, if you get an inch of liquid, that usually equates to ten inches of snow,” said Teske. So, the recorded number was more than three inches short of what would be expected. To top it all off, many of the surrounding areas didn’t record snow totals nearly that high.
“It just didn’t seem to make sense” – News Channel Nine Chief Meterologist Jim Teske
Teske took note of all the anomalies and passed them along to the National Weather Service office in Binghamton. They checked their paper records and found the truth – that on February 15th, 1946, only 2.4 inches of snow fell on Syracuse. The new snowiest day in Syracuse in recorded history is December 30th, 2025.
While the result usually isn’t as drastic, local input is an integral part of weather reporting. “It’s good to get these other reports to kind of fill in the gaps,” said Teske. “It’s also helpful in real time when weather is going on, because there’s some events where it might be snowing in one place and raining in another. And it’s important for us to know that so we know whether we need to adjust the forecast.”
Teske said that even though it’s possible other mistakes have been made when records went online, he doubts that many of them have had the same impact as this one. The data he bases his forecasts on every day is largely consistent and accurate. “This one [mistake] was kind of magnified because it was entered and went in as a record total,” said Teske.
Even though we’ve had a record single day of snowfall, Syracuse is still about sixty inches shy of the snowiest winter in its history, and Teske didn’t forecast another record beater.
“There’ll probably be a little bit of snow at times in the next week. But… the second week in March looks like a real, real warm up. Possibly the first real taste of spring.”
Transcript
(MEGAN ACKER, NCC NEWS REPORTER)
FOR AS LONG AS RECORDS HAVE BEEN DIGITIZED… SYRACUSE’S SNOWIEST DAY WAS LISTED AS FEBRUARY FIFTEENTH, NINETEEN FORTY-SIX. WHILE SYRACUSE WAS GETTING POUNDED WITH LAKE EFFECT LAST DECEMBER THIRTIEST – LOCAL METEOROLOGIST JIM TESKE EVEN DOUBLE CHECKED. HE HAS ACCESS TO AN ONLINE DATABASE THAT CHARTS THE HIGHEST SNOWFALL TOTALS IN A SINGLE DAY.
(JIM TESKE, METEOROLOGIST AT NEWS CHANNEL NINE)
THE TOP ONE WAS 34 INCHES IN 1946. AND I SAW WE WERE 24. I SAID, WELL, WE’RE NEVER GOING TO MAKE 34 INCHES. SO I THOUGHT, OH, WE’RE IN THE BOOKS AT NUMBER TWO.
(ACKER)
BUT THAT DIDN’T SIT RIGHT WITH A LOCAL VIEWER – WHO REACHED OUT TO JIM TO SHARE A COUPLE ANOMALIES.
FOR STARTERS – THE RECORD BOOKS SAID THAT THE NEXT DAY – SNOW TOTALS ONLY REACHED TWO INCHES – SOMETHING THAT WOULD’VE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE IF THERE WAS THREE FEET OF SNOW THE DAY PRIOR. ALSO – WATER FROM MELTED SNOW – ONLY ADDED UP TO ABOUT POINT TWO THREE INCHES – A FRACTION OF WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
(JIM TESKE)
IT DIDN’T SEEM TO MAKE ANY SENSE. SO THESE LITTLE THINGS ADDED UP. AND SO I PASSED IT ALONG TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGAMPTON.
(ACKER)
EVENTUALLY – IT WAS FOUND THAT THE HAND-WRITTEN RECORD HAD BEEN INCORRECTLY DIGITIZED. LESS THAN THREE INCHES OF SNOW FELL ON FEBRUARY FIFTEENTH, NINETEEN FORTY-SIX.
(MEGAN ACKER, NCC NEWS REPORTER)
FOR REFERENCE. THIS FIRE HYDRANT IS ABOUT THREE FEET TALL. CLOSE TO THE 34 INCHES THAT WE THOUGHT FELL IN THAT DAY IN 1946. WHEREAS THIS – IS ABOUT 2 POINT FOUR INCHES – OR HOW MUCH ACTUALLY FELL THAT DAY.
(ACKER)
JIM SAYS THAT EVEN THOUGH WE’VE HAD A RECORD SINGLE DAY OF SNOWFALL – WE’RE STILL ABOUT SIXTY INCHES SHY OF SYRACUSE’S SNOWIEST WINTER IN HISTORY – AND HE DOESN’T THINK WE’LL GET THERE.
(JIM TESKE, METEOROLOGIST AT NEWS CHANNEL NINE)
THERE’LL PROBABLY BE A LITTLE BIT OF SNOW AT TIMES. IN THE NEXT WEEK. BUT, THE FOLLOWING WEEK, THE SECOND WEEK IN MARCH LOOKS LIKE A REAL, REAL WARM UP, POSSIBLY THE FIRST REAL TASTE OF SPRING.
(ACKER)
FOR N-C-C NEWS, I’M MEGAN ACKER REPORTING IN SYRACUSE.