SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Independence, OR?

The machine for a Independence driveway

A shovel is enough

A normal winter drops about 1.2 tons of snow on this driveway in Independence, spread over a few light falls. That is shovel work.

Get a wide plastic shovel with a bent handle before the first fall, and if you have a bad back, consider a cordless single-stage instead: the snow in Independence is light enough for one.

How much snow Independence gets

Snow a year
10 in
Storms of 5 in or more
0.4 a winter
Storms of 10 in or more
about once every 5 winters
Days with snow on the ground
1

Light, below most snowy cities. A typical snowy US city gets about 3.3 times as much. Most of it melts within a few days, so in Independence waiting a day is often a real option.

On a two car driveway that is about 1.2 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Independence

  1. Nov0.5
  2. Dec3.6
  3. Jan2.6
  4. Feb1.8
  5. Mar1.1

Snow worth clearing runs from December to March, heaviest in December. Buy the shovel before the first fall, when stores still have them.

Independence and its neighbours

Independence is number 10 of 57 Oregon towns here for snowfall; Baker City gets the most at 79 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
Monmouth, OR210 inA shovel is enough
Dallas, OR710 inA shovel is enough
Salem, OR101 inNo snowblower
Keizer, OR131 inNo snowblower
Albany, OR173 inNo snowblower
Corvallis, OR204 inA shovel is enough

Where these numbers come from

Read next: What a winter of snow weighs and Why storm depth matters more than snowfall.

NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals from Falls City 2 SSW, 12.6 miles from Independence. 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.