Do you need a snowblower in Portsmouth, NH?
What clears snow in Portsmouth
Two-stage snowblower
A storm of 10 inches or more hits Portsmouth about once every 1 winters. That is deeper than a single-stage intake can swallow.
Before you buy, measure the garage door and the storage spot: these machines are wide and heavy.
What a Portsmouth winter brings
- Snow a year
- 56 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 3.7 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once every 1 winters
- Days with snow on the ground
- 66
Heavy, more than most snowy cities. That is about 1.5 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 7.3 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Portsmouth
- Oct0.1
- Nov0.9
- Dec11.0
- Jan15.9
- Feb16.2
- Mar10.5
- Apr1.2
Snow worth clearing runs from December to April, heaviest in February. Start and service a machine in November.
Towns near Portsmouth
Portsmouth is number 6 of 11 New Hampshire towns here for snowfall; Concord gets the most at 68 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dover, NH | 10 | 39 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Somersworth, NH | 14 | 39 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Amesbury, MA | 17 | 62 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Newburyport, MA | 18 | 62 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Rochester, NH | 19 | 39 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Haverhill, MA | 25 | 58 in | Two-stage snowblower |
Where these numbers come from
Read next: Single-stage or two-stage and Why storm depth matters more than snowfall.
NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals from Eliot, 2.9 miles from Portsmouth. 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.