SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Big Lake, MN?

Your answer for Big Lake

Gas single-stage

Big Lake gets enough snow that shovelling it all is a real job, about 4.6 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.

A normal Big Lake winter

Snow a year
36 in
Storms of 5 in or more
1.7 a winter
Storms of 10 in or more
about once every 5 winters
Days with snow on the ground
95

Moderate, a typical snowy-city winter. About what a typical snowy US city gets. It tends to stay, so each storm lands on the last one.

On a two car driveway that is about 4.6 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Big Lake

  1. Oct0.2
  2. Nov5.3
  3. Dec6.0
  4. Jan8.2
  5. Feb7.3
  6. Mar6.3
  7. Apr2.4

Snow worth clearing runs from November to April, heaviest in January. Start and service a machine in October.

Big Lake and its neighbours

Big Lake is number 102 of 103 Minnesota towns here for snowfall; Hermantown gets the most at 90 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
Monticello, MN440 inGas single-stage
Otsego, MN836 inGas single-stage
Elk River, MN936 inGas single-stage
St. Michael, MN1040 inGas single-stage
Buffalo, MN1340 inGas single-stage
Rogers, MN1436 inGas 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 Elk Rvr, 8.1 miles from Big Lake. 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.