Do you need a snowblower in Iowa City, IA?
The machine for a Iowa City driveway
Cordless single-stage
Plenty falls in Iowa City, about 3.6 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 Iowa City winter
- Snow a year
- 28 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 1.0 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once every 10 winters
- Days with snow on the ground
- 48
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 3.6 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Iowa City
- Oct0.4
- Nov1.1
- Dec7.2
- Jan7.6
- Feb7.5
- Mar3.2
- Apr0.5
Snow worth clearing runs from November to March, heaviest in January. Start and service a machine in October.
Towns near Iowa City
Iowa City is number 31 of 41 Iowa towns here for snowfall; Mason City gets the most at 44 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coralville, IA | 5 | 28 in | Cordless single-stage |
| North Liberty, IA | 7 | 29 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Cedar Rapids, IA | 23 | 34 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Marion, IA | 27 | 34 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Muscatine, IA | 29 | 24 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Davenport, IA | 48 | 36 in | Cordless 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 Iowa City, 3.5 miles from Iowa City. 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.