Do you need a snowblower in Northampton, MA?
Your answer for Northampton
Gas single-stage
Northampton gets enough snow that shovelling it all is a real job, about 4.7 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 Northampton winter brings
- Snow a year
- 37 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 1.9 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once every 5 winters
- Days with snow on the ground
- 54
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 4.7 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Northampton
- Nov1.6
- Dec7.5
- Jan8.1
- Feb11.0
- Mar7.3
- Apr1.0
Snow worth clearing runs from November to April, heaviest in February. Start and service a machine in October.
Towns near Northampton
Northampton is number 52 of 58 Massachusetts towns here for snowfall; North Adams gets the most at 85 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easthampton, MA | 4 | 37 in | Gas single-stage |
| Holyoke, MA | 8 | 37 in | Gas single-stage |
| Amherst Town, MA | 9 | 37 in | Gas single-stage |
| Chicopee, MA | 12 | 48 in | Gas single-stage |
| Westfield, MA | 14 | 52 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| West Springfield Town, MA | 14 | 52 in | Two-stage snowblower |
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 Amherst, 8.1 miles from Northampton. 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.