SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Oak Park, IL?

What clears snow in Oak Park

Cordless single-stage

Plenty falls in Oak Park, about 5.5 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.

How much snow Oak Park gets

Snow a year
42 in
Storms of 5 in or more
1.1 a winter
Storms of 10 in or more
about once every 5 winters
Days with snow on the ground
55

Moderate, a typical snowy-city winter. That is about 1.2 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 5.5 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Oak Park

  1. Nov0.6
  2. Dec9.7
  3. Jan12.6
  4. Feb14.5
  5. Mar4.1
  6. Apr0.8

Snow worth clearing runs from December to March, heaviest in February. Start and service a machine in November.

Oak Park and its neighbours

Oak Park is number 20 of 225 Illinois towns here for snowfall; St. Charles gets the most at 46 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
River Forest, IL242 inCordless single-stage
Forest Park, IL242 inCordless single-stage
Elmwood Park, IL338 inCordless single-stage
Maywood, IL342 inCordless single-stage
Berwyn, IL339 inCordless single-stage
Cicero, IL339 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 Oak Brook 2W, 9.9 miles from Oak Park. 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.