Do you need a snowblower in Payson, AZ?
The machine for a Payson driveway
A shovel is enough
A normal winter drops about 2.4 tons of snow on this driveway in Payson, spread over a few light falls. That is shovel work.
Get a wide plastic shovel with a bent handle before the first fall, and if you have a bad back, consider a cordless single-stage instead: the snow in Payson is light enough for one.
How much snow Payson gets
- Snow a year
- 19 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 1.4 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once every 5 winters
- Days with snow on the ground
- 5
Light, below most snowy cities. A typical snowy US city gets about 2.0 times as much. Most of it melts within a few days, so in Payson waiting a day is often a real option.
On a two car driveway that is about 2.4 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Payson
- Nov1.3
- Dec3.6
- Jan4.7
- Feb4.9
- Mar2.0
- Apr2.0
Snow worth clearing runs from November to April, heaviest in February. Buy the shovel before the first fall, when stores still have them.
Towns near Payson
Payson is number 3 of 44 Arizona towns here for snowfall; Flagstaff gets the most at 90 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Verde, AZ | 38 | 0 in | No snowblower |
| Scottsdale, AZ | 50 | 0 in | No snowblower |
| Fountain Hills, AZ | 50 | 0 in | No snowblower |
| Cottonwood, AZ | 52 | 1 in | No snowblower |
| Paradise Valley, AZ | 60 | 0 in | No snowblower |
| Apache Junction, AZ | 61 | 0 in | No snowblower |
Where these numbers come from
Read next: What a winter of snow weighs and Why storm depth matters more than snowfall.
NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals from Payson, 1.7 miles from Payson. 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.
- The two nearest weather stations sit at very different heights, and the second one averages 2 inches a year. Hills around Payson can get a lot more or less than this.