Do you need a snowblower in Ames, IA?
Your answer for Ames
Gas single-stage
Ames gets enough snow that shovelling it all is a real job, about 3.5 tons a winter on this driveway, but storms over 8 inches are uncommon.
Before you buy, check the intake height against the deepest storm above, and plan to clear before the city plow leaves its ridge of heavy slush at the end of the drive.
What a Ames winter brings
- Snow a year
- 27 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 1.8 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- almost never
- Days with snow on the ground
- 56
Moderate, a typical snowy-city winter. A typical snowy US city gets about 1.3 times as much. It tends to stay, so each storm lands on the last one.
On a two car driveway that is about 3.5 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Ames
- Oct0.4
- Nov1.5
- Dec6.5
- Jan6.6
- Feb7.8
- Mar3.8
- Apr0.7
Snow worth clearing runs from November to March, heaviest in February. Start and service a machine in October.
Towns near Ames
Ames is number 33 of 41 Iowa towns here for snowfall; Mason City gets the most at 44 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boone, IA | 13 | 36 in | Gas single-stage |
| Ankeny, IA | 20 | 25 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Johnston, IA | 24 | 38 in | Gas single-stage |
| Grimes, IA | 26 | 38 in | Gas single-stage |
| Altoona, IA | 27 | 25 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Urbandale, IA | 28 | 38 in | Gas single-stage |
Where these numbers come from
Read next: Snowblowers on a gravel driveway and Single-stage or two-stage.
NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals from Ames 5 SE, 5.9 miles from Ames. A normal winter, not this winter's forecast. Snow is weighed at 6.24 pounds a cubic foot, fresh and fairly dry; wet spring snow can weigh three times that.