VIDEO: Will a Leaf Blower Remove Snow?

Snow is something we deal with every single year in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska. Shovels and snow blowers always work.

But what about a leaf blower? Can it do the job as well?

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A man in Harrisonville, Missouri, just south of Kansas City, was getting his work truck uncovered from a decent snowstorm that hit last week. Instead of using a long snow brush and ice scraper as I have in my truck, he pulled out his gas-powered leaf blower.

The snow, being a very light and powdery sort, flew right off the truck. It hung up a little bit in some places, but it mostly few right off.

I have a fairly cheap Black and Decker battery-powered leaf blower. It does an okay job of blowing leaves around as long as they are separated from one another. If they are in a thick layer it isn't much use. I tried it on similarly light and fluffy snow and found that it was mostly useless unless you had the mouth of the blower right up against the snow. Even then, the cold decreased the battery life so it was completely pointless.

How about a better leaf blower on wet snow? It's really going to depend on the leaf blower. This battery-powered Stihl in the video below seemed capable of moving wet snow, but not enough that you would want to continue the chore for more than seven seconds.

A leaf blower powered by a backpack gas engine was able to move four inches of heavy wet snow in Troy, Ohio in 2019. That thing really blows.

So obviously it is going to depend entirely on the snow and the leaf blower.

One blower that is undefeated against snow is a snow blower. They are pretty useless on leaves though. At least mine is.

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