Pictures of Syracuse’s largest suburb –Clay, NY (Cicero, Lysander: relocating, house)

[bellafinzi]

cuse, almost all the snow has been limited to Oswego County. Other than a couple inches of snow on Monday, Syracuse has been sunny, but cold the last few days.

ddana, thanks! Sorry, no Cazenovia pictures. I plan to go there someday to get some pictures, maybe this summer. I have a thread showing some of my pictures of the Town of Onondaga. Keeping checking back because in the next couple weeks I'll be adding a few more pictures to the Onondaga photo thread.

Originally Posted by cnybound

Hi Bellafinzi, thanks for all the pics I've seen. I'm new to this forum, but my family may be relocating to the Syracuse area as early as next month. I've never been there before but seeing the pictures and reading all of the posts on this thread are helping me to understand a little more. Clay seems to be a nice area, and close to shopping, stores, etc.? Where are the higher end homes located there? Not looking to buy a home right away, but want to start looking at the areas. Thanks.

Thank you! Most higher end homes are off Buckley Road, just west of the Village of North Syracuse. Since that area butts up against the Clay Marsh State protected forever wild area, most of that area doesn't have any more room for more development. One small housing development is under construction near there, but most of the homes built there are only about $200,000. Mike Bragman is planning to build an upscale development way far north near Oswego County and Brewerton soon. But that development would be miles away from shopping etc and is more rural. There was a development called Orange Commons that was approved a couple years, but hasn't begun construction yet....still don't know why. Orange Commons was to be an upscale development located across from the Clay Town Hall off Route 31.

The Town of Lysander (Baldwinsville area) is located very close to the shopping areas of Clay and Lysander has many more upscale developments to choose from. So you may want to check out that area too. It's a little more rural than Clay, but still nice.

[cnybound]

Thanks I'm sure once I get to the area, and start looking I will become more familiar. I'm not trying to go too upscale, but just maybe a little better than the average home and a little larger.

[bellafinzi]

A few more Town of Clay photos

[vitalove]

Thanks Bella for the pictures! They are beautiful. Clay, Syracuse and other surrounding areas look beautiful. Seems like a wonderful place to live.

[cnybound]

Please tell me how the snowfall is in the Syracuse area right now. I realize certain area like Parish and Oswego county are having record amounts, and that is not far from Syracuse. I've been looking at the national news and online. How is the Syracuse area dealing with the snow? Is it as bad there now as well?

[bellafinzi]

In the last week Syracuse and it's suburbs has had about 16 inches of snow. But since the snow fell over 8 or 9 days, a couple inches one day... 5 inches one day...a couple more inches the next, etc....it had no major impact on the area.

The only day that they closed schools in Onondaga County...last Monday...was due to unusually cold wind chills, not the snow.

Right now, there is about 10 inches of compacted snow on the ground in the Syracuse suburbs (at least in my area). For the season Syracuse has had about 65 inches of snow so far, but all that has either melted or compacted. And remember it has been spread out over the last 3 months. The extreme cold has been worse than the snow for Syracuse... so far. Our normal highs are about 33 degrees for mid-Fed, but the highs have been running 10 to 15 degrees below normal for the last month.

[bellafinzi]

I always forget that most people don't understand the difference between Lake Effect snow and non-lake effect snow. In case anyone is wondering here are some facts.

-Syracuse gets about 70% of it's average annual snowfall from Lake Effect snow. Since only 30% of Syracuse's snow comes from non-lake effect snow, Syracuse gets as much non-lake effect snow as most other parts of the Northeast and Midwest.

Lake Effect Snow

-is light and fluffy due the low moisture content

-accumulates much faster because it's light and fluffy and doesn't compact as fast as high moisture snow

-Lake effect snowy days normally start sunny, then cloudy with snowfall, then partly cloudy again a few hours later

Non Lake Effect Snow

-is heavy and good packing snow with high moisture content

-accumulates much slower because it's heavier and compacts faster, therefore total accumulation is much lower

-Non Lake Effect Snowy days normally start gray and overcast, then snowfalls, then it stays gray and overcast the rest of the day or days.

Summary of Lake Effect vs. Non Lake Effect snow

-Non lake effect snow storms are depressing with heavy overcast, heavy wet snow, and the snow flakes aren't as pretty

-Lake Effect snowstorms are much more fun with a mixture of sun and clouds, the snow is easier to shovel because it fluffy and the snow flakes are prettier to look at.

Conclusion:

I'd much rather have lake effect snow than non-lake effect snow.

[cnybound]

Thanks so much bellafinzi, I didn't even know what Lake Effect snow was! Also thanks for filling me in on the latest Syracuse weather. It's difficult to understand specific areas forecast by just watching the news.

[bellafinzi]

This Valentine's Nor'easter (non-lake effect) snowstorm was very different than most in the past. Because it was so cold, around 10 degrees, the snow flakes were very small and lighter than a normal Nor-easter. For most big snowstorms here, the temperature is usually around 25 to 30 degrees....so the snow is normally heavier.

[bellafinzi]

You're welcome cnybound!