SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Forest Park, IL?

The machine for a Forest Park driveway

Cordless single-stage

Plenty falls in Forest Park, about 5.5 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.

A normal Forest Park winter

Snow a year
42 in
Storms of 5 in or more
1.1 a winter
Storms of 10 in or more
about once every 5 winters
Days with snow on the ground
55

Moderate, a typical snowy-city winter. That is about 1.2 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 5.5 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Forest Park

  1. Nov0.6
  2. Dec9.7
  3. Jan12.6
  4. Feb14.5
  5. Mar4.1
  6. Apr0.8

Snow worth clearing runs from December to March, heaviest in February. Start and service a machine in November.

Forest Park and its neighbours

Forest Park is number 32 of 225 Illinois towns here for snowfall; St. Charles gets the most at 46 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
Maywood, IL242 inCordless single-stage
River Forest, IL242 inCordless single-stage
Oak Park, IL242 inCordless single-stage
Berwyn, IL239 inCordless single-stage
Bellwood, IL342 inCordless single-stage
Cicero, IL339 inCordless 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 Oak Brook 2W, 8.3 miles from Forest Park. 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.