Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

It's almost middle of January and less than inch of snow accumulation has fallen.   There's no snow forecast in sight.  The temperature is heading up to 50-60F this weekend.  I'm excited about upcoming the warm weather but really want to see some real snow to play with.

Just saying, that's all.  It's been quiet on this forum for the last 3 days.  Too quiet.  I'm going to shift over to collecting lawn mowers instead of snowblowers if this keeps up.  Anybody feels the same way?

Very strange year for us. We've had 3 good snowfalls/storms, then the temp goes up to +5, maybe with a little rain, then drops to -15 for  a while. If you don't get everything cleared before the freeze up, you have to wait for the next cycle. Haven't seen any machine yet that can tackle concrete!

GtWtNorth wrote:
Sounds like just we are getting here too.  The snow I blew yesterday was very dense - had to go through it at the lowest possible speed for the Honda with tracks.  Eventually got the job done but it took forever - was almost unblowable.  Fortunately, about half the drive blew clear in the storm, but it took more gas to do the other half than it usually takes to do the whole thing.

Just got 2 inches of snow overnight.  It was the nice heavy snow, the kind that crunches when you step on them.  I was going to use the Toro Powerlite to clear the driveway just to get some of my OPE fix, instead  I used a 28" wide snow pusher.  Got the job done quickly and felt good getting some exercise. 

This was the first significant snowfall in the area and traffic was slowed down a lot.  The weather alerts really over-exxagerated the severerity, so a lot of people were driving overly cautious slow.  Sometimes, I wanted to ignore the weather forecast, just take it as it comes.  If I read into the forecasts too much, most of the time I get dissapointed on how much we actually received.

So there is another snow wave coming on Sunday.  After that, the temp is climbing up to the 40's.  What a weird winter, crazy temperature fluctuations and winds, but very little snow.  I don't like this global warning, makes it challenging for any computer weather model to accurately forecast the weather.

We got a couple inches of nice snow.  Not too light, dry and fairly easy to move.  Used the pusher to gather it in windrows on the side of the driveway then pulled out the recently repaired Craftsman to toss it up onto the lawn.  Fixing the chute rotation mechanism sure helped.  No more cranking and pulling the chute with my other hand.  So, the Craftsman is parked in the back driveway under a cover, the Murray in the garage for the front driveway and the MTD on the deck.  Toro sitting in the shed and the Simplicity living the life of a garage queen waiting for enough snow to overwhelm the other machines.  We'll see........ 

Here in Montreal Qc we had a few weeks ago the big 45cm fall but since then nothing in the air, just cold weather around -17C, but we are only in end of January so X finger for the upcoming snowfall. Denis

We got 3" of wet slush snow today and was time for my HS520 to work.  It is critical for SS to have a nice scrapper bar and rubber peddles otherwise she is not going to blow too well.  My little Honda did a nice job cleanning the snow to the concrete surface.  It does not blow as far as my 928 but 520 is a decent machine and does the job well.  It is better than having to shovel the wet snow or getting the 928 out.  I am glad I have a 4 stroke engine as I don't stink too bad after the dance.

My two cycle machines don't give off excessive fumes.  My wife who has a very sensitive sense of smell never complains about me smelling of fumes after I work with them.  She gets more p!ssed off if I get gasoline on me.  She's really sensitive to that. 

A proplerly tuned two cycle shouldn't produce much visible smoke once warmed up.  I think running them at speed also helps them run cleaner.  The faster exhaust gas speeds and higher temperatures seem to contribute to cleaner combustion.  At least, that's my experience.

@borat,

If your wife is used to Old Spice after shave lotion then you should be just fine!

It's been a while since I posted. Spent some time in Hawaii so not much use for a snowblowe there. Back in Pennsylvania now and it appears not much use for a snowblower here as well. Had about 2-3 inches on Friday but it was so fluffy I just grabbed my leaf blower and had the cars and driveway cleared in no time. It's still only January though with a lot more winter to come. Hope everyone here is well.

We've had a weird winter, in my opinion, in my area.  We've actually had nearly 40 inches so far this season at the airport, but except for one storm of about 8 inches, all the rest is little boring stuff like anywhere from a skiff of up to a quarter inch or maybe up to 3 or 4 inches if we're lucky.   At least my Toro got to have some neat fun a few times.  I don't have room to store an SS machine and I don't have any smooth surfaces to use it with.  Asphalt that isn't always flat, grass/dirt driveway.  When it's frozen, at least it's okay.  My street is just fine.  We've been below freezing for 3 weeks, but now it's 38F.  It goes up and down, but heading into February will be our transition out of winter, a month ahead of all you guys in the east.

The airport said we had 18 inches in December.  I can't see where it all came from, but it must have come down.  Our season total average is about 47 inches at the airport, but where I am on the north side of the city, I think we get around 55 inches.  Seems like we get more per snowfall than what the airport says they get.  Across the Idaho border 35 miles away in Coeur d'Alene, they get around 75 inches a year.  Crazy lake effect.  Well, may you all get the snow you want!  Let's hope we can hear some good snow stories before it's too late!