SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Niles, IL?

The machine for a Niles driveway

Cordless single-stage

Plenty falls in Niles, about 5.0 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 Niles winter brings

Snow a year
38 in
Storms of 5 in or more
1.4 a winter
Storms of 10 in or more
about once every 10 winters
Days with snow on the ground
44

Moderate, a typical snowy-city winter. About 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 5.0 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Niles

  1. Oct0.2
  2. Nov1.8
  3. Dec7.6
  4. Jan11.3
  5. Feb10.7
  6. Mar5.5
  7. Apr1.3

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

Towns near Niles

Niles is number 68 of 225 Illinois towns here for snowfall; St. Charles gets the most at 46 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
Morton Grove, IL134 inGas single-stage
Park Ridge, IL238 inCordless single-stage
Skokie, IL434 inGas single-stage
Glenview, IL434 inGas single-stage
Lincolnwood, IL434 inGas single-stage
Norridge, IL438 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 Chicago Ohare International Airport, 6.7 miles from Niles. 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.