JEFFERSON – 2025 Total Snow Contest winner Susie Snyder picked up her prize, a new snow thrower, on Friday, Jan. 23, at the Gazette office in Jefferson – just in time for the blast of snow from Winter Storm Fern.
While Ashtabula County, for once, didn’t receive as much snow as other parts of Ohio, no doubt the 2026 Husqvarna ST124 snow thrower, purchased by the Gazette from First Quality Power Place, located at 16891 Kinsman Rd. in Middlefield, came in handy.
Snyder, of Conneaut, correctly guessed that 27.30 inches of snow would fall between the contest period of Nov. 15-Dec. 15, 2025.
Her guess fell right on the dot.
According to Al Zemla, who measured the snowfall in Monroe Township, 27.30 inches fell during the contest period.
Zemla is a volunteer Ashtabula County snow spotter with the NOAA/National Weather Service Cleveland Weather Forecast Office.
According to Zemla’s records, the snow totals include:
Nov. 27 – 4.7 inches
Nov. 28 – 0.5 inches
Nov. 30 – 1.4 inches
Dec. 1 – 0.6 inches
Dec. 2 – 3.10
Dec. 4 – 1.60 inches
Dec. 7 – 0.50 inch
Dec. 9 – 0.60 inch
Dec. 10 – 3 inches
Dec. 11 – 2.90 inches
Dec. 12 – 1.20 inches
Dec. 13 – 3.20 inches
Dec. 14 – 1.20 inches
Dec. 15 – 2.80 inches
Snyder was the only person to guess the exact amount, but two other guesses came very close – one 27.25 inches and another 27.9 inches.
“It’s unreal,” Snyder, who has entered the contest in the past, said of her exact guess.
As for how she came up with that number, Snyder said, “The good Lord came up with it. I don’t get one number on the Lotto ticket. I don’t win anything.”
Snyder was so surprised when Gazette Publisher/President Becke Bradbury Creed called to tell her that she was the winner that her first instinct was to ask if it were a scam.
“I thought they were kidding me,” Snyder said.
Snyder picked up her prize with the help of husband Reese, who they both joked will be the one actually using it.
“It’s a God send,” Snyder said of the new snow thrower in the Ohio winters.
