SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Harvey, IL?

The machine for a Harvey driveway

Cordless single-stage

Plenty falls in Harvey, about 3.7 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 Harvey winter brings

Snow a year
28 in
Storms of 5 in or more
1.2 a winter
Storms of 10 in or more
about once every 10 winters
Days with snow on the ground
46

Moderate, a typical snowy-city winter. A typical snowy US city gets about 1.3 times as much. It tends to stay, so each storm lands on the last one.

On a two car driveway that is about 3.7 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Harvey

  1. Oct0.2
  2. Nov0.9
  3. Dec4.0
  4. Jan10.2
  5. Feb7.5
  6. Mar4.9
  7. Apr0.5

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

Harvey and its neighbours

Harvey is number 141 of 225 Illinois towns here for snowfall; St. Charles gets the most at 46 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
Markham, IL228 inCordless single-stage
Riverdale, IL339 inCordless single-stage
South Holland, IL328 inCordless single-stage
Hazel Crest, IL328 inCordless single-stage
Dolton, IL328 inCordless single-stage
Homewood, IL328 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 Park Forest, 7.9 miles from Harvey. 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.