Do you need a snowblower in Melrose, MA?
The machine for a Melrose driveway
Two-stage snowblower
A storm of 10 inches or more hits Melrose about once a winter. That is deeper than a single-stage intake can swallow.
Before you buy, measure the garage door and the storage spot: these machines are wide and heavy.
What a Melrose winter brings
- Snow a year
- 64 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 4.3 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once a winter
- Days with snow on the ground
- 62
Heavy, more than most snowy cities. That is about 1.8 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 8.3 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Melrose
- Oct0.1
- Nov1.7
- Dec12.8
- Jan17.2
- Feb16.2
- Mar13.3
- Apr2.2
Snow worth clearing runs from November to April, heaviest in January. Start and service a machine in October.
Melrose and its neighbours
Melrose is number 9 of 58 Massachusetts towns here for snowfall; North Adams gets the most at 85 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malden, MA | 2 | 49 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Medford, MA | 3 | 49 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Everett, MA | 3 | 49 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Revere, MA | 4 | 49 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Chelsea, MA | 4 | 49 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Somerville, MA | 5 | 49 in | Two-stage snowblower |
Where these numbers come from
Read next: Single-stage or two-stage and Why storm depth matters more than snowfall.
NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals from Reading, 5.8 miles from Melrose. 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.