[joe moving]

Originally Posted by Ted Bear

You are on the right track. 24" Ariens. Buy it from a local dealer; NOT a big box store. Do not fiddle around with all the other brands...Toro, John Deere, Craftsman, etc. Get the right stuff and do it once.

My Ariens is 13 years old, and kept us cleared in the snowiest city in the US. You won't experience anything in Vermont like I am used to. Machine never missed a beat. One sheer pin in the auger. Regular lubrication maintenance. New spark plug each spring when putting it away. Add Stabil in the gas tank when storing. Starts on the first pull in the autumn....has electric start (plug in) but never need it.
If it is windy where you are, get the shield which attaches to the handles so you don't look like frosty when u are done.

now i am curious - what is the snowiest city in the US?

I wonder if I'd be better off with a 24" instead of 30" - that way the machine doesn't have as much to swallow at once?

The Platinum SHO 24" is not a lot more expensive than the Deluxe 30".
The 24" Deluxe is $1000 instead of $1400 for the 30" Deluxe. But doesn't have handwarmers!!!

I would say I'm looking at maybe... 144" a year in the form of 2-3 big storms and lots of little ones.

[joe moving]

Originally Posted by Cambium

If you have a riding lawn mower it might be worth the $$ to invest in a mini plow for it.. Imagine that, mow grass with it in the summer and plow with it in the winter. Win Win. Says its good for gravel surfaces too.

Then you can spend the time saved into taking pictures and video and enjoying the snowfall and scenery.

Nordic Lawn Mower Snow Plow, Authorized Dealer & Free Shipping on Nordic Riding Lawn Mower Plows

I will probably end up buying a garden tractor but am not convinced the small plow would be enough.

I've read that I might want something more like this thing (not cheap, but about the same price as the above snowblowers) but also i haven't been convinced that this is better than a standalone snowblower.

http://www.husqvarna.com/us/accessor...ift/967343901/

[PDD]

Originally Posted by joe moving

If I got a pretty nice snowblower, am I going to be frustrated with it's performance on a ~100 foot (it might be 125') FLAT driveway?



I'm thinking of something like this:
Ariens 921032 Images @ Snow Blowers Direct - View Ariens 921032 Pictures and Videos

I imagine it will cost me about as much as a plower will cost me for 1 season so it's a pretty quick pay back if I ignore my time to operate it (gas , I would think, is nominal).

Congrats on the new "winter yard toy" I remember when I bought our first big snowblower back in 1988 I could not wait for the first big snowfall 20" or more. It sure was fun the first day I used it and the second and third. I sold it when we moved in 2010 and never again will I get excited about "yard toys".

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by joe moving

now i am curious - what is the snowiest city in the US?

Not including mountains, ski resorts, and areas we just don't have good records for...You can use the map below to see where it's snowiest on average.

From NWS Burlington...

"Copenhagen, NY, is snowiest city in America."

"Syracuse, the snowiest big city in the U.S., gets about 124 inches a year"

New Northeast snowfall map shows Tug Hill is a bull's-eye each winter | syracuse.com


I believe Erie, PA is up there as well.

[joe moving]

Originally Posted by PDD

Congrats on the new "winter yard toy" I remember when I bought our first big snowblower back in 1988 I could not wait for the first big snowfall 20" or more. It sure was fun the first day I used it and the second and third. I sold it when we moved in 2010 and never again will I get excited about "yard toys".

ha ha.
I haven't bought it yet . I could always skip it altogether and just pay someone to plow although I think I will save about $1000 a year doing it myself.

[harry chickpea]

I strongly advise against a garden tractor add-on. Back when I was still in high school my father traded a perfectly good and easy to use snowblower for one that fit onto the front of our John Deere garden tractor. (A tractor that was itself oversized for the property.) The difference was incredible - FOR THE WORSE.

The short wheelbase of the stand-alone allowed easy turns and precise cutting in. With the add-on to the tractor, even with the chains and wheel weights it would slip around and want to go on its own path. Worse yet, because the distance between the blower outlet and operator was much further, on windy days and powder snow it was impossible to keep from getting blown snow all over me even if I madly adjusted the chute. Since I was the one doing the clearing out, and he didn't even bother to ask me, I coulda killed him. As soon as I left for college he went back to having a truck plow the drive out.

[tkln]

Originally Posted by joe moving

ha ha.
I haven't bought it yet . I could always skip it altogether and just pay someone to plow although I think I will save about $1000 a year doing it myself.

Have you gotten a quote yet from anyone? Our driveway is almost a quarter mile, it's $40/plow...I average about $1200/year. I can't imagine a 100' would cost that much!

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Not including mountains, ski resorts, and areas we just don't have good records for...You can use the map below to see where it's snowiest on average.

From NWS Burlington...

"Copenhagen, NY, is snowiest city in America."

"Syracuse, the snowiest big city in the U.S., gets about 124 inches a year"

New Northeast snowfall map shows Tug Hill is a bull's-eye each winter | syracuse.com


I believe Erie, PA is up there as well.

That map is inaccurate since it only shows NWS snow measurement locations that are invariably at airports. Jay Peak claims 355" of snow. The whole eastern slope of the Greens with all the orographic lift sees 200"+ anywhere there is a 3,500+ foot mountain.

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

That map is inaccurate since it only shows NWS snow measurement locations that are invariably at airports. Jay Peak claims 355" of snow. The whole eastern slope of the Greens with all the orographic lift sees 200"+ anywhere there is a 3,500+ foot mountain.

I believe it uses Co-op stations as well because of the more detailed aspect of the map. The locations you mentioned would be a tiny spot on the map but I do see 200"+ on there anyway which would reflect the higher elevations.

Nobody really lives above 3000' so all we have are ski resorts to provide the data which aren't many or aren't enough to grab an "average". I think every summit should do what Mansfield does. Put a snow stake up there and keep track.

I'm curious what Mt Marcy and Algonquin get in the Adirondacks. I assume over 150" per yr on average as the map implies

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by joe moving

now i am curious - what is the snowiest city in the US?

Lowell, MA was the Snowiest Big City in the USA for Winter 2014-15


Here's a cool site that keeps track of snow totals & ranks for populated cities of 100k+.

Syracuse went from 12th place last week to 2nd this week.

Should be fun to keep track of.

http://goldensnowglobe.com/current-top-10-snowiest-cities/