SnowfallCheck

Do you need a snowblower in Sioux Falls, SD?

What clears snow in Sioux Falls

Gas single-stage

Sioux Falls gets enough snow that shovelling it all is a real job, about 5.9 tons a winter on this driveway, but storms over 8 inches are uncommon.

Before you buy, check the intake height against the deepest storm above, and plan to clear before the city plow leaves its ridge of heavy slush at the end of the drive.

How much snow Sioux Falls gets

Snow a year
45 in
Storms of 5 in or more
1.8 a winter
Storms of 10 in or more
about once every 5 winters
Days with snow on the ground
73

Moderate, a typical snowy-city winter. That is about 1.3 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 5.9 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.

When the snow comes in Sioux Falls

  1. Oct1.4
  2. Nov6.2
  3. Dec8.7
  4. Jan8.0
  5. Feb8.6
  6. Mar7.2
  7. Apr5.1
  8. May0.1

Snow worth clearing runs from October to April, heaviest in December. Start and service a machine in September.

Sioux Falls and its neighbours

Sioux Falls is number 6 of 14 South Dakota towns here for snowfall; Spearfish gets the most at 71 inches.

TownMilesSnowTwo car, paved
Harrisburg, SD749 inGas single-stage
Brandon, SD849 inGas single-stage
Brookings, SD5336 inCordless single-stage
Vermillion, SD5336 inGas single-stage
Yankton, SD5638 inGas single-stage
Worthington, MN5745 inGas 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 Sioux Falls, 3.3 miles from Sioux Falls. 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.