Do you need a snowblower in Cedar Rapids, IA?
The machine for a Cedar Rapids driveway
Cordless single-stage
Plenty falls in Cedar Rapids, about 4.5 tons a winter on this driveway, but it comes in shallow storms a small cordless machine can take in.
Before you buy, check the battery is rated to clear the whole driveway in one charge in the cold, or get a second battery. Batteries lose range below freezing.
What a Cedar Rapids winter brings
- Snow a year
- 34 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 0.9 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- almost never
- Days with snow on the ground
- 56
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 4.5 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Cedar Rapids
- Oct0.6
- Nov2.2
- Dec9.0
- Jan8.7
- Feb8.3
- Mar4.0
- Apr1.5
Snow worth clearing runs from November to April, heaviest in December. Start and service a machine in October.
Cedar Rapids and its neighbours
Cedar Rapids is number 23 of 41 Iowa towns here for snowfall; Mason City gets the most at 44 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marion, IA | 7 | 34 in | Cordless single-stage |
| North Liberty, IA | 16 | 29 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Coralville, IA | 19 | 28 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Iowa City, IA | 23 | 28 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Muscatine, IA | 49 | 24 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Waterloo, IA | 50 | 39 in | Cordless 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 Cedar Rapids #1, 7.5 miles from Cedar Rapids. 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.