SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Moorhead, MN?

The machine for a Moorhead driveway

Gas single-stage

Moorhead gets enough snow that shovelling it all is a real job, about 6.9 tons a winter on this driveway, but storms over 8 inches are uncommon.

Before you buy, check the intake height against the deepest storm above, and plan to clear before the city plow leaves its ridge of heavy slush at the end of the drive.

What a Moorhead winter brings

Snow a year
53 in
Storms of 5 in or more
2.0 a winter
Storms of 10 in or more
about once every 3 winters
Days with snow on the ground
110

Heavy, more than most snowy cities. That is about 1.5 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 6.9 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Moorhead

  1. Oct0.7
  2. Nov8.0
  3. Dec10.8
  4. Jan12.2
  5. Feb7.7
  6. Mar9.3
  7. Apr4.0

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

Towns near Moorhead

Moorhead is number 23 of 103 Minnesota towns here for snowfall; Hermantown gets the most at 90 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
Fargo, ND453 inGas single-stage
West Fargo, ND851 inGas single-stage
Detroit Lakes, MN4348 inGas single-stage
Fergus Falls, MN5150 inGas single-stage
Grand Forks, ND7549 inGas single-stage
Jamestown, ND9246 inGas 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 Moorhead, 1.6 miles from Moorhead. 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.