Single-Stage or Two-Stage Snowblower for Your Town
The difference in one line
A single-stage snowblower uses one auger to scoop and throw. It is lighter and cheaper, and it starts to choke once the snow is deeper than its intake, about 8 inches. A two-stage snowblower adds an impeller behind the auger, takes deep and wet snow, and copes with the heavy ridge a plow leaves at the end of the driveway. It also weighs two hundred pounds or more and costs two to three times as much.
How often storms beat a single-stage intake
Of 1,531 towns with a foot or more of snow a year, 372 see a storm of ten inches less than once a decade. 54 see one at least once a winter on average, led by Truckee, CA (207 in), Fulton, NY (159 in), Golden, CO (141 in). The verdict here moves to two-stage once ten-inch storms come every other winter (0.5 a year), or once a town passes 64 inches a year in total.
Where a cordless one is enough
For a paved two car driveway, 912 towns land on a single-stage machine: 387 on a cordless one and 525 on gas. A cordless machine fits under 12 tons of snow a winter on the driveway with fewer than 1.5 five-inch days a year. The snowiest cordless towns are Hibbing, MN (60 in), Grand Rapids, MN (60 in), Fairbanks, AK (58 in). Battery run time falls in hard cold, so a second battery matters more than a bigger one.
Before you buy
On gravel, skip single-stage entirely; see snowblowers on a gravel driveway. If the total looks big but the storms are shallow, read why storm depth matters more than snowfall before paying for a two-stage machine you will rarely need.