Do you need a snowblower in Schenectady, NY?
The machine for a Schenectady driveway
Two-stage snowblower
A storm of 10 inches or more hits Schenectady about once a winter. 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.
A normal Schenectady winter
- Snow a year
- 59 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 3.2 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- about once a winter
- Days with snow on the ground
- 57
Heavy, more than most snowy cities. That is about 1.6 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 7.7 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Schenectady
- Oct0.3
- Nov2.6
- Dec13.3
- Jan15.6
- Feb13.7
- Mar12.0
- Apr1.6
- May0.1
Snow worth clearing runs from November to April, heaviest in January. Start and service a machine in October.
Schenectady and its neighbours
Schenectady is number 33 of 90 New York towns here for snowfall; Utica gets the most at 164 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cohoes, NY | 11 | 59 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Albany, NY | 11 | 56 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Watervliet, NY | 12 | 59 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Troy, NY | 14 | 59 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Amsterdam, NY | 16 | 64 in | Two-stage snowblower |
| Saratoga Springs, NY | 20 | 64 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 Albany Airport, 7.3 miles from Schenectady. 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.