Do you need a snowblower in Portage, MI?
Your answer for Portage
Cordless single-stage
Plenty falls in Portage, about 5.4 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.
A normal Portage winter
- Snow a year
- 41 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 1.2 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once every 10 winters
- Days with snow on the ground
- 60
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 5.4 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Portage
- Nov2.9
- Dec9.3
- Jan15.0
- Feb9.7
- Mar3.7
- Apr0.6
Snow worth clearing runs from November to March, heaviest in January. Start and service a machine in October.
Towns near Portage
Portage is number 43 of 90 Michigan towns here for snowfall; Sault Ste. Marie gets the most at 120 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalamazoo, MI | 5 | 65 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Battle Creek, MI | 20 | 65 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Sturgis, MI | 29 | 41 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Coldwater, MI | 35 | 43 in | Gas single-stage |
| Elkhart, IN | 40 | 37 in | Cordless single-stage |
| Niles, MI | 42 | 63 in | Gas 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 Three Rivers, 18.6 miles from Portage. 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.