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As the Mirabito Outdoor Classic draws near, the Syracuse Crunch have turned to Chief Meteoroloigst Wayne Mahar for a look at the weather conditions throughout the rink building process and on the big day - February 20. Mahar is a hockey enthusiast, with a niche for weather here in Central New York. In January of 1985, Mahar become Syracuse's first full time meteorologist, which sparked an era of making weather forecasting throughout the area much more serious. In addition to his on-air time on Action News, Mahar is President of Precision Weather Service, a private weather consulting firm. Follow Wayne's weather outlook for the Mirabito Outdoor Classic here over the course of the next five weeks, right up through the moment the puck drops on February 20.
If you have lived in Central New York for more than one or two years, then you know the weather can be changeable, especially in the winter. Oh sure, most of the time in February we can safely plan on snow and cold. Then, every once in awhile, Mother Nature surprises us with a little sunshine or maybe even an unseasonably mild day.
The Mirabito Outdoor Classic at the New York State Fairgrounds is scheduled for Saturday February 20th at 1:00pm. That’s still more than one month away, so “nailing down” the weather for that exact date is out of the question at this time.
Since we can’t actually predict the weather for the game at this time, the best thing we can do is go back and check past years and averages. This can give us at least an idea of what the conditions “could” be.
So, based on records from Hancock Airport in Syracuse, here are a few weather numbers you may find interesting and maybe even helpful for driving and dressing purposes if you are attending this fantastic event!
February 20th the past 5 years (High & Low temperature and Precipitation)
2005 High 25 Low 2 Snow 1.3”
2006 High 28 Low 14 No precipitation
2007 High 44 Low 18 Rain .11” & flurries
2008 High 26 Low 17 Snow .7”
2009 High 25 Low 13 Snow 2.3”
If you are a believer in averages, I’ll do the math for you. For the past five February 20ths in Syracuse…
The average high temperature: 29
The average low temperature: 13
The average snowfall: 2.3”
Finally, if you want to consider a “longer term” average, here are the averages for game day based on the past 107 years…since records began in Syracuse.
The average high temperature: 35
The average low temperature: 16
As we draw closer to February 20
th, I’ll start evolving from “averages” to an actual forecast. Keep checking back and stay tuned. And remember, when game day gets here, if there is any snow or rain around, you can track it with the CNYcentral.com Triple Doppler Radar at
www.cnycentral.com.
- Wayne Mahar
Chief Meteorologist
CNYcentral.com
President, Precision Weather Service
315 638-1666
www.precisionweather.com
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