Do you need a snowblower in Des Moines, IA?
Your answer for Des Moines
Gas single-stage
Des Moines gets enough snow that shovelling it all is a real job, about 4.7 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 Des Moines winter brings
- Snow a year
- 37 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 1.6 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once every 10 winters
- Days with snow on the ground
- 52
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 4.7 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Des Moines
- Oct0.5
- Nov2.7
- Dec7.9
- Jan9.4
- Feb10.2
- Mar4.4
- Apr1.2
- May0.2
Snow worth clearing runs from November to April, heaviest in February. Start and service a machine in October.
Towns near Des Moines
Des Moines is number 10 of 41 Iowa towns here for snowfall; Mason City gets the most at 44 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Hill, IA | 6 | 37 in | Gas single-stage |
| Norwalk, IA | 8 | 37 in | Gas single-stage |
| Altoona, IA | 9 | 25 in | Cordless single-stage |
| West Des Moines, IA | 9 | 37 in | Gas single-stage |
| Urbandale, IA | 10 | 38 in | Gas single-stage |
| Johnston, IA | 10 | 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 Des Moines International Airport, 3.5 miles from Des Moines. 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.