sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to National Bobblehead Day!
Bobbleheads are celebrated today with National Bobblehead Day, a holiday created by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. The heads of bobbleheads are often oversized compared to their bodies and are connected to them with a spring or hook, so they move around—or bobble—if they are lightly tapped. These collectible figurines go by other names like wobbler, nodder, and wacky wobbler.
The history of bobbleheads dates back hundreds of years. In Asia in the 1600s, "temple nodders" were made of religious figures such as Buddha. Chinese nodding-head figures were found in England and throughout Europe by the 1760s or '70s. A painting from 1765 of Queen Charlotte in her dressing room in Buckingham Palace depicts two of these figures in the background. By the 1780s, great numbers of these figures were being imported to England, Europe, and the United States. The interest of the English in the figures was in large part driven by Charlotte's son, the Prince of Wales (later George IV), who had an interest in Chinese decoration.
SU News
Syracuse coach Fran Brown says school expects ruling on Kyle McCord’s NCAA appeal over next week (PS; Carlson)
Syracuse football coach Fran Brown said he expects a ruling on Kyle McCord’s NCAA appeal for the option to play a fifth year of college football to come at some point over the next week.
Brown provided the timeline during an appearance on “ACC All-Access” on the ACC Network on Monday night.
“Whatever is best (for McCord) at the end once we get the ruling back, which I think will come the next week,” Brown said when discussing the quarterback’s future. “I think it will be great for college football if we did have a player like him coming back here to play at Syracuse again. That would be amazing for us and our fan base, for him and his family, because he is truly a leader.”
Brown did not provide any further update on the process or any insight into what argument the school made on McCord’s behalf.
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Syracuse Football: We should know soon if Kyle McCord gets 5th season of eligibility (itlh; Adler)
Buckle up, Syracuse football fans. This will likely prove an interesting week.
Per a post on X from Chris Carlson of Syracuse.com on Monday night, first-year head coach Fran Brown says that he expects the NCAA's ruling to come this week on an appeal by record-setting senior quarterback Kyle McCord for a fifth season of collegiate eligibility.
Brown, naturally, wants McCord to win his appeal and return to the Orange for another term. At the same time, the 'Cuse head coach views McCord as one of the top quarterback options for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Trevor Sikkema, the lead NFL Draft analyst for Pro Football Focus ("PFF"), recently had a post on X where he placed McCord at No. 9 in his quarterback rankings for the 2025 NFL Draft, which will take place from April 24 to April 26 in Green Bay, Wis.
Syracuse football fans, understandably, are eager to find out whether McCord could have the chance to suit up for the Orange in the 2025 campaign. Social media and chat rooms have been a lot of fun to read in recent days regarding McCord!
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Syracuse football: 2024 was a year of shattered records for the Orange (TNIAAM; Lincoln)
Almost all Syracuse Orange fans will look back on the 2024 season as one filled with hope and fun. A high-octane offense under rookie Head Coach Fran Brown guided the team to a very successful season, building a platform for future success.
But the 2024 season isn’t just one that will stand long in the memory. It also stamped its place in the record books as the programs saw several records broken, particularly in relation to Kyle McCord and the SU passing offense. Let's take a look at all the SU school records the class of 2024 challenged.
Individual Records:
Kyle McCord set the Syracuse school record for single-season touchdown passes with 34. This broke Ryan Nassib’s record of 26 from 2012.McCord also set the school and ACC record for single-season passing yards with 4,779. Nassib previously held the Syracuse record with 3,749 in 2012 while Deshaun Watson had the previous ACC record with 4,593.
McCord also broke the record on a yards-per-game basis with 367.6 in 2024. Eric Dungey averaged 298 in 2016. McCord also set the career record in this regard.
He also ranked as one of the top-10 highest single-season passer ratings and second in career passer ratings at SU.
With his five touchdown passes in the Bowl against Washington State, McCord tied previous records for the most touchdown passes in one game.
McCord set the school record for pass completions in one season with 391. The record was previously held by Nassib with 294 in 2012.
McCord also set a few individual game records and a few of his performances this year will end up on the most completions in one game list. He will even end up 7th on the leaderboard for most career completions at SU.
The gunman also set the record for most 300+ yard games in a season and tied the metric for a career. With 12 games of 300+ plus yards, McCord broke Dungey’s single-season record (6 in 2016) and tied his career record of 12.
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Keeping Up With The 315 1-6-25 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
Brian Higgins begins the show discussing the chances Syracuse misses the ACC tournament and why this is a big week to bag some much needed wins. Then, callers give their thoughts on the state of the program, switch to the ACC, Kyle McCord’s chances of going to a different school next year, the officiating in the FSU game and more.
Mike McAllister on Syracuse basketball, football transfer portal update, Kyle McCord waiver timeline radio; Cuse Sports Talk)
SyracuseOn247 publisher Mike McAllister joins Paulie Scibilia and Mario Sacco after the tough loss at Florida State to discuss the state of SU basektball and the latest happenings in the transfer portal for Syracuse football.
Podcast: Scanlon says Syracuse played 'exceptionally well' under Fran Brown (tinyurl.com; podcast; Bleav)
Former Syracuse and NFL linebacker Rich Scanlon predicted Syracuse could win double-digit wins in August, and his prediction came to fruition. He discussed his thoughts on SU's 10-3 season on today's The Juice on the Cuse Podcast, presented by Rivals and Bleav.
"The team performed exceptionally well, especially with Fran Brown there and his ability to recruit. Having something in terms of NIL, support of the administration. This is what you get if you can do those things."
Scanlon also discusses his thoughts on Marlowe Wax and Justin Barron's NFL futures, the current state of NIL, and his ideas on how to fix the transfer portal.
Afterward, we chat about Syracuse basketball's continued struggles as they fell to 0-3 with a loss to FSU over the weekend, and what to look for as spring practice begins for the football team.
Syracuse football 'making serious run' at elite 4-star DB J'Vari Flowers, per analyst (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse football coaches are in hot pursuit of four-star defensive back and top-65 national prospect J'Vari Flowers, a state champion from Florida who is one of the fast-rising prospects around the country in the 2026 class.
The 6-foot, 177-pound Flowers, also a track star, is a standout junior at Miami Northwestern Senior High School. As I recently noted, in mid-December, Miami Northwestern capped off its 2024 season at 12-2 overall by winning the Florida High School Athletic Association ("FHSAA") 3A state title.
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Syracuse football: an early look at the 2025 offense by position (TNIAAM; Wall & Lincoln)
As we get ready for the newest Syracuse Orange to arrive on campus this month, we want to do our best to recap the roster and the arrivals and departures so far. Let’s look at what the 2025 Orange offense looks like by position:
Quarterback
Departing: Kyle McCord (maybe?), Carlos Del-Rio Wilson, Braden Davis
Returning: Jakhari Williams, Michael Johnson, Jr., AJ Miller, Patrick Grusser
Incoming: Rickie Collins (transfer from LSU), Luke Carney (HS) and Rich Belin (HS)
Early Outlook:
Well the McCord waiver decision will result in a huge swing for the QB room. If he is granted another season and decides to come back to Syracuse, the Orange will have one of the top QB’s in the country. If not, then they might be trusting the offense to a first-time starter against the Tennessee Volunteers in the 2025 opener. Collins has the HS pedigree and Williams has the year in the offense, but we suspect that if McCord departs for the NFL that Syracuse will add another QB from the spring portal period. A lot will depend on how the rest of the group looks in spring practice. Carney’s experience in Texas probably gives him a chance to push for a travel spot right away and he and Belin will be ones to watch in 2026.
Running Back
Departing: LeQuint Allen (NFL Draft)
Returning: Jaden Hart, Yasin Willis, Will Nixon, Malachi James, Max Runyon, Jordan Montanez, Tyler Chandler, Nick Armentano
Incoming: Tylik Hill (HS), Malachi Coleman (HS)
Early Outlook:
Seems like Willis will get the first shot at the top of the depth chart. He showed some speed and power, but it’ll probably take more players to try and replace all that Allen did for the offense. Before getting injured Nixon showed his versatility as a runner and receiver and his experience will be important as he’s the only returner with more than 40 career carries. Jaden Hart was a part of the travel roster this season and we’d anticipate that he’ll take on a larger role in 2025. James saw time as a returner but we haven’t seen his elite speed in action yet.
Wide Receiver
Departing: Jackson Meeks
Returning: Trebor Pena, Jaylan Hornsby, Umari Hatcher, Zeed Haynes, Darrell Gill Jr., Ta’Ron Haile, Justus Ross-Simmons, Emanuel Ross, Ja’Meer Thomas, Kyle Acker
Incoming: Darius Johnson (HS), Chris Long (transfer from Rutgers), Tyshawn Russell (transfer from South Carolina), Darien Williams (HS), Terrell Wilfong (HS), Julian McFadden (HS), Gabe Daniels (HS), Darius Johnson (HS)
Early Outlook:
Pena’s return could make this group the strongest one for the entire Syracuse team. Gill, Haynes, Ross-Simmons all flashed big-play potential in 2024, so they should be able to help if the Orange are breaking in a new quarterback. The big question- can they take the next step forward and replace the departing production of Meeks, Allen and Gadsden? Behind them will be a group of talented youngsters and that group seems in good enough shape that the incoming freshmen can be brought along slowly. Receiver could see some post-spring attrition based on the numbers, but speculating on position switches to defensive back is premature.
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How The First 12-Team CFP Could Hurt Syracuse (orangefizz.net; Aitken)
The first 12-team College Football Playoff, or CFP, is about halfway over. Unfortunately for Syracuse, what’s happened so far could hurt the Orange’s chances to both get in and advance going forward.
ACC Disappointments
It was a great sign for the ACC that the conference got two teams into the CFP. Clemson pretty much had to be in as a power conference champion, but SMU battled with Alabama for the last slot. While the Mustangs did end up making the field, that might have hurt them and their conference in the long run. SMU got demolished 38-10 by Penn State. While blowouts have happened quite often in the overall CFP era, the immediate takeaway for many powerful voices, like Kirk Herbstreit, was that SMU didn’t deserve to be in the playoff in the first place.
Next year will be monumental in setting the precedent for how many teams each conference is “worthy” of sending to the College Football Playoff. If the second-best ACC team is spurned for a fourth or fifth team from the SEC or Big Ten, then it’s bad news for Syracuse and the rest of the conference for the foreseeable future.
Guaranteed Byes… Bye-Bye?
Something else to pay attention to is the dialogue about getting rid of guaranteed byes for the four highest seeded conference champions. That conversation was kick-started by all four teams with a bye losing in their first CFP game this year. If there is a change made so that the byes just go to the top four teams, regardless of conference champion status, then Syracuse’s path to a bye would be even more difficult going forward.
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Syracuse Football: 3-star transfers who planned to visit 'Cuse make college decisions (itlh; Adler)
Two college transfers who were reportedly planning to visit Syracuse football have opted to head elsewhere.
Both of these transfers are rated three stars by at least one recruiting service. They are Richard Toney Jr., a redshirt junior safety at Big 12 Conference member TCU, and Elijah Herring, a junior linebacker at American Athletic Conference school Memphis.
Per a post on X from national writers Matt Zenitz and Chris Hummer of 247Sports and CBS Sports, the 6-foot, 195-pound Toney, who hails from Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, is expected to transfer to Big Ten Conference squad Purdue.
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According to recruiting services, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Herring, who is from Newnan, Ga., will transfer to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Florida State.
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Syracuse football alum Zaire Franklin finishes as NFL tackle leader (TNIAAM; Ostrowski)
Syracuse Orange football alum Zaire Franklin continued his dominance with the Indianapolis Colts, as the linebacker finished the NFL regular season with the most tackles in the entire league, beating out Arizona's Budda Baker by nine.
Franklin followed up a career-best 179 tackle season by nearly matching it this year. In addition to the league-best 173 tackles (93) solo, Zaire also contributed 3.5 sacks, two picks, six pass breakups, and five forced fumbles to the Colts' campaign.
This marks the third consecutive season he's finished with over 160 tackles. It also (finally) earned Franklin a well-deserved Pro Bowl invite, the first of his career.
Since being drafted in 2018, Franklin has developed from a rotational piece into one of the best LBs in the NFL. He entered 2024 as the first entry in the NFL Top 100 as voted on by players.
Indy was eliminated from playoff contention in Week 16, though Franklin's sack of Jacksonville QB Mac Jones in Overtime helped them finish on a high note with a 26-23 win.
Franklin is under contract with the Colts until 2028 thanks to a three-year extension he signed last March. The organization is keeping both head coach Shane Steichen and GM Chris Ballard for now so we’ll see if they can build a playoff contender around Zaire for next season.
Gadsden Declares for NFL Draft - Syracuse University Athletics (cuse.com)
Star Syracuse tight end Oronde Gadsden II is headed to the NFL Draft.
The redshirt-junior will forgo his fifth and final season of eligibility to pursue his career at the next level, he announced on Monday.
The most prolific pass-catching tight end in school history and an All-American, Gadsden leaves Syracuse fifth in program history in receptions and 10th in yards. Among tight ends, he re-wrote the school record book, setting a new career receptions record (141) by 49 catches after posting the top-two individual seasons in school (73 in 2024, 63 in 2022). He was a two-time First Team All-ACC selection.
Gadsden also holds the tight ends yardage record by over 600 yards, concluding his collegiate career with 1,970 yards receiving. His 969 yards in 2022 and 934 yards this past season were each nearly 400 yards above Chris Gedney's 1992 campaign of 587 yards for the previous record.
The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native arrived at Syracuse in 2021 as a wide receiver, playing sparingly in his rookie campaign, before being converted to tight end in 2022. His record-breaking sophomore campaign concluded in first-team all-league honors. In 2023, Gadsden picked up right where he left off in the season opener, but suffered a season-ending injury on the first drive of the Orange's second game of the season.
This past season, Gadsden was a steady target for the nation's No. 1 passing offense. He was part of an offensive unit that broke over 20 single-season or career individual/team school records. Gadsden caught 73 passes for 934 yards from QB Kyle McCord. The Orange were the only team in the country that had three-or-more players with 60+ receptions and had four, including Gadsden, achieve the milestone.
The Orange football team is coming off a 10-win season in head coach Fran Brown's first season at the helm. He tied for the most wins by a first-year head coach in school history. Season tickets for 2025 are on sale now. Visit Cuse.com/Tickets to renew your seats or become a new season ticket holder today!
Allen Accepts East-West Shrine Bowl Invite - Syracuse University Athletics (cuse.com)
Running back LeQuint Allen Jr. has accepted his East-West Shrine Bowl invitation, currently giving the Orange five participants in the nation's longest-running collegiate all-star game.
Allen joins quarterback Kyle McCord, edge rusher Fadil Diggs, tight end Oronde Gadsden II and safety Alijah Clark, who previously accepted invites. Syracuse's five participants trails just Colorado (six) for the most of any FBS program. Miami also has five.
This year's East-West Shrine Bowl will be the 100th edition of the game. Played in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on January 30, 2025, it's the nation's longest-running college football all-star game. It provides a week of opportunity for players to showcase their skills in front of NFL scouts and executives from all-32 NFL franchises.
This is the sixth-straight Shrine Bowl that Syracuse has sent at least one player to. It'll mark 11 of the last-13 iterations of the game that at least one Syracuse player was represented.
'Cuse is coming off a 10-win season after their victory in the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl. Fans can now renew their season tickets or become new season ticket holders for the 2025 season at Cuse.com/Tickets
Syracuse University on Instagram: "We're snow close to the first day of classes! One more week "
3,093 likes, 17 comments - syracuseu on January 6, 2025: "We're snow close to the first day of classes! One more week ".
www.instagram.com
ACC News
Predicting 2025 ACC/ND Schedule (RX; HM)
Predicting 2025 ACC/ND Schedule
We know which ACC teams will be playing Notre Dame next year (BC, Miami, NC State, Pitt, and Syracuse), but with one exception, we don't yet know the dates. I'm 99% sure I have one of them figured out, and I can make some educated guesses about the others, which I'll do here...
| Date | Opponent |
| 8/30/25 | at Miami |
| 9/6/25 | ??? |
| 9/13/25 | Texas AM |
| 9/20/25 | Purdue |
| 9/27/25 | at Arkansas |
| 10/4/25 | Boise St |
| 10/11/25 | BYE? |
| 10/18/25 | USC |
| 10/25/25 | ??? |
| 11/1/25 | ??? |
| 11/8/25 | Navy |
| 11/15/25 | |
| 11/22/25 | ??? |
| 11/29/25 | ??? |
What we know
The Irish open the season against the Miami Hurricanes. This could be a Labor Day game - although that would give Notre Dame a short week to prepare for their second game, which may keep this on Saturday.Notre Dame has games set for Weeks 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 - but not for Week 2.
What we think
No way do they want a bye that early (unless they really do play Miami on Labor Day Monday). I looked at the ACC teams on the Irish schedule and found only one with an open date in Week 2: the NC State Wolfpack. So, unless ND feels the need to use a bye that early, I expect them to host the Pack on September 6th.The rest of the ACC/Notre Dame schedule will likely take place after the Irish host the USC Trojans. I say likely - they have an open date before USC, but since that is the exact middle of the season, I would assume they'd like to use a bye that week.
Given that it's starting to get cold up North by the end of October, my guess is the Irish would prefer to visit Pitt and Boston College as soon as possible, so I'm going to pencil those games in for October 25th and November 1st.
Syracuse is the only other known game for Notre Dame, but it's also a home game - and they currently only have one home game set for after USC, and that's Navy. Surely they'll want another home game in November, so I'll assume that game will fall somewhere in that month, possibly in the penultimate week of the season, on November 22nd.
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2024-25 TV Numbers (CFBN) (RX; HM)
2024-25 TV Numbers (CFBN)
College Football Network has broken down 2024-25 2024 College Football TV Ratings a whole lot of different ways which you can examine by clicking the link above. In this article, we'll look at just a few, starting with...
| Average Viewers by Conference | ||
| Conf | avg vwrs | bar chart |
| SEC: | 4,750,105 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
| Ind:* | 3,312,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
| B1G: | 2,563,587 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
| ACC: | 1,782,077 | ||||||||||||||||| |
| XII: | 1,525,025 | ||||||||||||||| |
| Pac-12: | 881,533 | |||||||| |
| Reg'l | 688,429 | |||||| |
| MAC: | 646,794 | |||||| |
| MWC: | 624,359 | |||||| |
| AAC: | 620,203 | |||||| |
| FCS: | 425,929 | |||| |
| SBC: | 358,192 | ||| |
| USA: | 342,889 | ||| |
| Ivy: | 112,500 | | |
| DII: | 31,000 | |
| * mostly Notre Dame |
Next, here are the numbers for the most-viewed college football teams...
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Top 2024 NIL Collectives (RX; HM)
Top 2024 NIL Collectives
From On3's Top 15 NIL collectives in college sports posted by Pete Nakos on 08/29/24...
NIL Collectives
What makes a top NIL collective?Over the past three years, the college sports landscape has been altered. Donor-driven NIL collectives will make up 80% of all NIL dollars spent in college football this season. These organizations have become imperative to fielding a top roster in both football and basketball...
If approved, the House v. NCAA settlement would allow institutions to share $20-22 million annually in revenue with athletes. Revenue sharing could start by the 2025-26 academic year.
NIL collectives are expected to exist in the next iteration of college sports to create a competitive advantage, but will not be forced to raise so many dollars...
Here are On3’s rankings of the Top 15 NIL Collectives in college sports:
1. 1870 Society & The Foundation (Ohio State)
2. Spyre Sports Group (Tennessee)
3. Texas One Fund (Texas)
4. Division Street (Oregon)
5. Canes Connection (Miami)
6. The Grove Collective (Ole Miss)
7. The Battle’s End (Florida State)
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Syracuse v Washington State - DirecTV Holiday Bowl | Sean M. Haffey/GettyImages
ACC 2024 Football Power Rankings: Where did Virginia Tech finish & who was No. 1? (fightinggobbler.com; Roche)
5 Miami Hurricanes 10-3
After stumbling down the stretch of the regular season to cost them a spot in the ACC Championship Game, the Hurricanes dropped the Pop-Tarts Bowl to Iowa State in a wild game that came down to a late Cyclones touchdown to win the game.
4 Louisville Cardinals9-4
One of the best bowl finishes happened in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl when the Cardinals stopped a Washington game-winning two-point conversion to seal a one-point win. This was one of the two wins by the conference.
3 Syracuse Orange 10-3
Before the season started, the Orange had the schedule to set themselves up to have a good first season under Fran Brown and that’s what happened. They closed out the season with a win over Miami at home and then over Washington State in the Holiday Bowl. There is a ton of momentum building in New York around the program.
2 SMU Mustangs 10-4
In their first year in the ACC, the Mustangs were oh-so-close to winning the Championship Game, but still earned a CFP berth, losing to Penn State on the road.
1 Clemson Tigers 10-4
Going into the final couple weeks of the season, the Tigers were a long shot at making the ACC title game, but when Miami fell to Syracuse, it opened the door and they took full advantage. They beat the Mustangs on a walk-off field goal before falling at Texas in the CFP.
Three ACC Alumni Named Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists( theacc.com)
Three of the 15 finalists in the Modern-Era Player category for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025 presented by Visual Edge hail from a current Atlantic Coast Conference school. The 2025 finalists include multi-time finalists Torry Holt and Reggie Wayne, as well as first-time honoree Luke Kuechly.
- Torry Holt, Wide Receiver (NC State) - 1999-2008 St. Louis Rams, 2009 Jacksonville Jaguars
- Luke Kuechly, Linebacker (Boston College) - 2012-19 Carolina Panthers
- Reggie Wayne, Wide Receiver (Miami) - 2001-2014 Indianapolis Colts
Up to five modern-era players can be elected, and each must receive a minimum positive vote of 80 percent.
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Other
The Inn Between in Camillus (Alaina Potrikus)
After 52 years of old-school fine dining, Camillus restaurant is closing (PS; Miller)
A restaurant that remained unchanged for more than 50 years, from its interior paneling to the Friday-night prime rib special, will permanently close next weekend.
The Inn Between, located at 2290 W. Genesee Turnpike (Route 5) in Camillus, will close next Saturday, Jan. 18.
“It’s time,” Christopher Cesta, the owner and chef, said last week. “I love this place, and I love all the customers we’ve gotten to know so well over these decades. This wasn’t an easy decision.”
Rumors of the Inn Between’s closing had been circulating for months. Cesta made it official this afternoon on the restaurant’s Facebook page. He posted an announcement after the last of the available dinner reservations for next week had been filled.
“We are completely booked,” he said.
Customers who hold gift cards less than 10 years old can use them at the following restaurants: Inn of the Season (315-492-4001), Kitty Hoynes (315-424-1974) and Daniella’s Steakhouse (315-471-9874).
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This map shows the estimated snowfall totals for parts of Upstate New York through 7 a.m. Friday.National Weather Service
Snow alert issued for Central NY as another round of lake effect hits (PS; Coin)
The National Weather Service has issued a weather alert today for Central New York as cold winds continue to generate lake effect snow off Lake Ontario.
The winter weather advisory is in effect until 7 a.m. Wednesday for Cayuga, Cortland, Madison and Onondaga counties.
“Additional snow accumulations between 3 and 6 inches (are possible) within the most persistent snow bands,” the advisory said. “Winds gusting as high as 35 mph could cause blowing and drifting snow.”
Roads could get slippery and visibility sharply reduced, the weather service cautioned.
Snow today and the next few days is likely to be persistent but not overwhelming. It’s expected to fall steadily, an inch or two every few hours on average, but could be heavier where lake effect snow bands linger. The duration and intensity of those narrow lake effect snow bands are hard to pinpoint ahead of time.
The hills south of Syracuse are likely to get the most snow.
This round of lake effect won’t be nearly as intense as the one that hit late last week. That storm dropped more than 5 feet of snow in parts of Oneida County as winds blew west-southwest across the lake.
Syracuse got 16.1 inches of snow, with 9 inches of that falling on Saturday. That’s measured at Hancock International Airport, the official climate site for Syracuse.
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