Thanks to a snowfall at the buzzer, Margaret "Mugs" Berdelman of Edina is the winner of the December Guess the Snowfall game.

The 1.7 inches of snow that fell New Year's Eve put Berdelman's guess of 7.3 inches for the month right on the money. Hers was the 11th lowest of the 77 entries, which ranged all the way up to 36.6 inches. (Shudder!)

Berdelman, 40, a native Minnesotan who is marketing director at a Plymounth firm that makes microscopes, said hers was a "random guess," but based on the warm, dry months that preceded December. On the other hand, she's gone a little deeper with her guess for January.

"We still have plenty of winter left," she added.

For January, we're altering the rules a little, in keeping with the altered winter. We'll take entries through the first week, giving everybody a little more time to think about it and a shorter month to work with. So the deadline for guesses will be 11:59 p.m. Sunday Jan. 8.

Again, to enter, just send an e-mail to Snowfall@startribune.com, including your real name, a phone number, and your guess of how much snow -- in inches and tenths -- will fall on the Twin Cities for the entire month of January. (That means if any snow falls this week, that should be included in your guess.) The official total is what the National Weather Service will measure at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The guess closest to that official measurement, without going over, is the winner. Ties will be broken in favor of the earliest entry. The winner will get a $20 gift certificate to a coffee shop (transferable for hot chocolate) or a bagel shop.

Need help for January? The monthly record is 46.4 inches (1982). The minimum was 0.6 (1892, 1898).

Good luck!

Bill McAuliffe • 612-673-7646