I’d planned to get my snowblower ready for the winter, but was told it was not worth it to try to get it fixed up. (I’d gotten it second hand from a friend years back and used it hard clearing snow from a 500+ foot driveway in upstate New York.) I was trying to figure out how to replace it and found out a few things along the way, which I wrote up in Got a lawn tractor? Maybe not a big deal, but it's not looking good if you need a new one…
To give the short version, I found there has been a lot of consolidation in the lawn care/gardening machine market, and quite a few companies have gone under — including Briggs & Stratton, who owned the Simplicity brand among others. My still fairly new machine is an orphan.
I got a lot of comments and advice. Many people had stories to tell, brands to recommend, and alternatives to suggest. There’s been a lot of progress in battery powered machines for example. They’re quieter and they just run — no fighting to get the engine to turn over. I figured I’d need several battery packs to do my driveway though.
I wasn’t ready to get a truck and put a plow on it, which was another suggestion. I finally decided to get the snowblower attachment for my current machine while inventory was still available. My lawn tractor is still fairly new and I’m pretty satisfied with the local company that sold it to me and services it.
Moment of Truth
This weekend just past (January 6-7, 2024) saw the first really big snowfall of the winter where I live. There’d only been an occasional light dusting up to this point. Ski areas in the region have been hurting; snow is coming later, they can only make so much snow, and there’s a lot more rain instead of snow that quickly melts it.
This storm dropped about 5-6” where I live, although they were forecasting more, and some areas to the south and east got hit a lot harder. To make things more fun, another storm is coming that is expected to dump rain on all that snow, possibly triggering flooding — but I digress.
It snowed from Saturday afternoon into Sunday afternoon, It was heavy at times, but there was little wind, which helps. It was also at or just below freezing — which meant the snow tended to pack easily and quickly become heavy when trying to move it.
I was able to get my tractor up and running after shoveling a clear space to start, and rolled out of the garage to get going. It took me a brief time to get used to using my lawn tractor to move snow instead of cutting grass. The switch that raises and lowers the mowing deck now turns the chute on the snowblower. It pivots far enough to either side that I can even throw snow a little backwards. That turns out to be really useful.
There’s a cable on the left side from the driver’s viewpoint that lets me raise or lower the deflector at the top of the chute. This is important because at full opening, the snow gets thrown really far. If you look at the picture just above, you can see the “Armstrong lever” used to raise and lower the auger unit — just muscle power, but good enough.
The difference between this and the walk-behind snowblowers I’ve used in the past is significant. I can clear the long section of my driveway down to the road in just three passes where it used to take me 5-6 or more. It handled the heavy snow with no trouble. I’m glad I decided to get the wheel weights and chains — there were times I needed the extra traction. Although it's not quite as nimble in tight spaces as a snowblower, it’s still a significant upgrade.
Getting the snowblower attachment was not cheap. Would it be more practical/cheaper to just have someone plow my driveway? Perhaps. It depends on how much snow is going to fall, how often they’d have to come, and I’d have to wait on them. That could be a long time with a heavy blizzard.
I already have the lawn tractor, I can use it as needed, and now I can get use out of it year-round. Although this wasn’t the cheapest option, it’s far easier than using a walk-behind snowblower — and probably safer too. So far so good — we’ll see what the rest of the winter brings.
So how are you doing so far? If you live in regions prone to snow, there have already been some big storms with real devastation and serious accidents. (Here’s a local mishap.) Watching the Buffalo Bills in Miami last night, the announcers were talking about playoff field advantages. If Miami had won, they’d have their next game at home. Instead Buffalo gets the home field advantage, and Miami has to go to Kansas City where they’ll face forecast temperatures around zero. If you’re on the Gulf Coast now, the forecast is for heavy rains and tornadoes — another storm that will be moving up the East Coast.
The Pacific Coast is getting atmospheric rivers, so plenty of storm action moving East from there. The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron is already flying missions to track them and storm systems elsewhere.
“In early January we will be conducting missions from Guam for two weeks,” said Lt. Col. Mark Withee, 53rd WRS navigator. “The intent is to reach these systems at their genesis in order to have a more data-driven understanding of the development and life cycle of atmospheric rivers.”
The AR recon program is just one facet of the unit’s winter operations, though.
“We also provide reconnaissance for winter storms,” said White. “We fly certain patterns in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic to provide a profile of the atmosphere that storms moving east will be rolling into. This helps better forecast nor’easters, which often impact heavily populated areas.”
emphasis added
I may have some news later on the Guam missions. Wherever you are, stay safe and be prepared for weather emergencies. This could be an “interesting” winter.