SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Denver, CO?

The machine for a Denver driveway

Gas single-stage

Denver gets enough snow that shovelling it all is a real job, about 6.4 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.

How much snow Denver gets

Snow a year
49 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
43

Heavy, more than most snowy cities. That is about 1.4 times 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 6.4 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Denver

  1. Sep0.8
  2. Oct3.9
  3. Nov7.3
  4. Dec6.6
  5. Jan6.4
  6. Feb7.6
  7. Mar8.8
  8. Apr6.2
  9. May1.4

Snow worth clearing runs from October to May, heaviest in March. Start and service a machine in September.

Denver and its neighbours

Denver is number 23 of 53 Colorado towns here for snowfall; Steamboat Springs gets the most at 185 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
Aurora, CO949 inGas single-stage
Commerce City, CO1035 inCordless single-stage
Englewood, CO1034 inGas single-stage
Federal Heights, CO1045 inGas single-stage
Greenwood Village, CO1064 inTwo-stage snowblower
Thornton, CO1145 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 Denver-Stapleton, 0.6 miles from Denver. 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.