Do you need a snowblower in Washington, MO?
Your answer for Washington
A shovel is enough
A normal winter drops about 1.0 tons of snow on this driveway in Washington, 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 Washington is light enough for one.
How much snow Washington gets
- Snow a year
- 8 in
- Storms of 5 in or more
- 0.3 a winter
- Storms of 10 in or more
- almost never
- Days with snow on the ground
- 14
Light, below most snowy cities. A typical snowy US city gets about 5.0 times as much. It tends to stay, so each storm lands on the last one.
On a two car driveway that is about 1.0 tons of snow to move in a season, and a 10 inch storm weighs 2,600 pounds.
When the snow comes in Washington
- Nov0.4
- Dec2.7
- Jan2.6
- Feb1.4
- Mar0.7
- Apr0.1
Snow worth clearing runs from December to February, heaviest in December. Buy the shovel before the first fall, when stores still have them.
Washington and its neighbours
Washington is number 68 of 80 Missouri towns here for snowfall; St. Joseph gets the most at 21 inches.
| Town | Miles | Snow | Two car, paved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union, MO | 8 | 14 in | A shovel is enough |
| Wildwood, MO | 19 | 11 in | A shovel is enough |
| Wentzville, MO | 20 | 14 in | A shovel is enough |
| Lake St. Louis, MO | 20 | 14 in | A shovel is enough |
| Eureka, MO | 20 | 11 in | A shovel is enough |
| Dardenne Prairie, MO | 21 | 14 in | A shovel is enough |
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 Washington, 2.3 miles from Washington. 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.
- Days with snow on the ground come from a second nearby station, because the closest one does not record snow depth.