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It’s like watching paint dry, only colder.
For more than a decade, dozens of people have tracked the slow retreat of snow across Bob Mina’s backyard in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Each minute that the icy crystals persist against the sun, warming air or rain could mean the difference between eternal bragging rights and a batch of homemade cookies — or stinging defeat.
The game is called Snowmelt Derby. Mina, an information technology professional, runs it each winter among his friends on Facebook, who guess when the last snow in his yard will melt for the season.
“It’s mindless. It’s pointless. It involves no skills,” Mina said. “It’s just fun. And by the time it’s over, we’re almost to spring. It’s the ultimate timekiller.”
More than 100 players, some as far away as Australia, England and Canada, are currently waiting to see whether this weekend’s warm weather will wipe away several inches of snow blanketing Mina’s backyard.
How Snowmelt Derby works
The rules of Snowmelt Derby are simple: when snow falls in Bob Mina’s backyard, he posts about it on Facebook. His friends tell him the date and time they think all of the snow will disappear. The closest person, without the snow lasting longer than their guess, wins.
“If you say the snow is going to last until Feb, 15 at 12:04 p.m., you’re on the clock until 12:04 p.m.,” Mina said. “At 12:05, your time is past. You’re off. Whoever is next in line takes over.”
Mina keeps a spreadsheet of all of the guesses. This year, they stretch until July 4. Mina posts regular photo updates on Facebook, tagging contestants as their times approach, and they’re knocked out of the game.
Screenshots from Bob Mina’s facebook page on the snowmelt derby. (Sophia Schmidt/WHYY)
Mina only counts “natural” snow accumulation. He avoids walking on the fallen snow in his backyard for the duration of the game, and does not count any piles from plowing or shovelling.
Mina’s backyard gets very little sun due to a row of pines and other trees along the southern and western edges. This means snow can hang on surprisingly long, he said.
“It looks like it’s going to last forever,” Mina said, surveying a thick layer of snow Thursday. “It always does, but there have been plenty of times where one warm-up, one heavy rainstorm can wipe out 90% of it, and suddenly you’re playing for that last little bit in the garden, in the flower pots, in the shadows.”
The competition doesn’t end until the last crystals of snow have liquified.
Bob Mina points to a tiny patch of snow clinging on at the end of a prior year’s game. (Sophia Schmidt/WHYY)
“I have to get out there with my cell phone and sometimes zoom in and go, ‘Yep … there’s snow between those blades of grass,” he said.
The winner of Snowmelt Derby gets a batch of homemade Toll House cookies delivered or mailed to them.