Have You Ever Wanted to Use a Leaf Blower for Snow? Experts Reveal When You Can and Can't, Plus How to Do It Efficiently

Have you ever been tempted to use a leaf blower for snow? A leaf blower often ends up neglected back in the shed after the season for collecting leaves comes to an end, but the urge may be there to bring it out in winter for snow rather than a shovel. But should you?

The good news is that you can use a leaf blower for snow removal, but you can’t rely on it totally. They can be useful for removing snow from a driveway, pathway, deck, or patio after a light dusting, but a leaf blower won’t cope with heavy snowfall.

I spoke to landscape and snow clearance experts to reveal when you should and shouldn’t use a leaf blower for snow, and gathered some tips to help you do it effectively when you can. It may be a surprising use for a leaf blower, but you want to avoid wasting your time struggling with an inefficient machine and putting snow back where you were trying to clear it.

Can You Use a Leaf Blower for Snow?

A leaf blower can be used for snow removal in certain situations, though it is not a suitable tool for every type of snow. Below, we reveal those conditions in which you should and shouldn’t attempt to use a leaf blower for snow.

It does pay to have a mix of potential ways to shovel snow at hand, and a snow shovel should be in every homeowner's garden shed. A snow shovel like this at Walmart is inexpensive, easy to store, suitable for tighter spaces, and can be relied on should other machinery fail to start.

When to Use a Leaf Blower for Snow

A leaf blower can work well if you have had a light dusting of snow. It can be used to clear smaller areas of powdery snow quickly, when it would be inefficient to use a snow blower.

‘Leaf blowers are perfect to remove snow when it's the fresh, light, fluffy, dry snow, ‘ says Mallory Guerrero from Native Outdoor Care, a landscape maintenance and snow removal business in Colorado. She adds: ‘1-2 inches is the sweet spot here.’

A leaf blower can efficiently clear a light dusting of snow from around the property, including off sidewalks, patios, porches, decks, pathways, and smaller driveways.

The snow blower can clear powdery snow before it compacts, turns to ice, and sticks to the concrete. Mallory claims that ‘timing is important’ and, when it comes to using a leaf blower for snow on these small spaces, it is a case of ‘the sooner, the better’ after the snow falls.

Jack Summerfield, STIHL product manager, reiterates that the leaf blower will work best on ‘fresh snow that hasn’t been packed down or frozen’. He adds: ‘Under these conditions, it can save time compared to shovelling and is less physically demanding.’

Another place you can use a leaf blower to remove snow from is the top of your car. If there are a few inches of dry, powdery snow on the roof, you can blow it off with your leaf blower. It removes the risk of snow falling and obscuring your vision, plus it avoids any potential fines for driving with snow on the roof.

Mallory Guerrero

Mallory Guerrero is the co-owner of Native Outdoor Care, a year-round landscape maintenance and snow removal business in the Denver Metro area of Colorado.  

When Not to Use a Leaf Blower for Snow

A leaf blower is good for light dustings of dry snow, but it is not efficient for heavy or wet snow. Once the snow reaches over a few inches thick, it is going to be too much for a leaf blower. Then it comes down to a decision between a snow blower or snow shovel.

‘Leaf blowers can sometimes work, but you shouldn’t rely on them entirely to clear snow,’ says Steve Corcoran, CEO of Lawn Love. ‘They are not going to be able to do much about thick, dense, or heavy snow, and it won’t melt ice.’

Leaf blowers lack the power to blow around wet or heavy snow, and won’t melt or deal with ice, unless the driveway or walkway has ice melt applied beforehand to help deice paths and patios. Jack Summerfield adds: ‘Packed or icy snow is a challenge, since the blower cannot break it apart.’

Certain materials will restrict the use of a leaf blower. For example, always use a shovel to get snow off gravel paths, as a leaf blower risks blowing the gravel away, which can ruin the look of the path, or stirring up harmful dust that you don’t want to breathe in.

Finally, Mike Bowman from Patio Productions, who has tested landscape equipment over many years, warns of a potential safety risk from using snow blowers during periods of extreme cold.

He claims: ‘I would never attempt to blow snow with a leaf blower when the temperature is close to freezing, because the exhaust of the blower will melt the upper surface of the snow and turn your driveway into a skating rink.’

Mike Bowman

Mike Bowman is the Technical Product Manager and Director of Digital Marketing at Patio Productions. He has tested countless pieces of landscape equipment over 14 years in this field. 

Expert Tips to Follow if You Use a Leaf Blower for Snow

If you plan to use a leaf blower for snow, its efficiency will depend on the type of leaf blower you have in your tool shed. As some types of leaf blowers are going to be better than others, you don’t want to waste time struggling with an inefficient blower.

‘The more power, the better,’ claims Mallory Guerrero. ‘Gas-powered, backpack and higher-output electric models will be more efficient than the handheld ones. Battery-powered ones may not work as effectively if the temperatures are too cold.’

The lighter and fluffier the snow, coupled with how quickly you head out to clear it, will impact the effectiveness of any leaf blower. Bryan Clayton, the founder of GreenPal, does claim that ‘some handheld blowers could do very, very, very light snow’ but you’ll need a ‘heavy-duty backpack blower to get the horsepower’ required for a few inches of snow.

When using a leaf blower for snow, consider the angle you are using it and the direction of the wind to work efficiently. ‘With a snow blower, the snow gets directed in a specific direction, but with a leaf blower, it can just get blown into the air and then thrown around however the wind directs it,’ warns Steve Corcoran.

This is why Mike Bowman adds that you should ‘always blow snow downwind’. He advises: ‘It is important so that you can see what you are doing without having the blowback from the blower restrict your view, and so that you don't end up putting the snow back exactly where you just blew it off.’

Finally, always wear the right safety equipment for clearing snow. This includes warm clothing, safety goggles, heavy-duty waterproof boots with good tread, hearing protection (essential for gas-powered models but also advisable for electric ones), and thick gloves.

Leaf blowers are great gardening tools, especially for collecting leaves in the fall, but they can be loud and intrusive machines, especially gas-powered ones. Before you head out into the yard to clear snow this winter, our guide to good leaf blower etiquette reveals when it may be antisocial and potentially disturbing to your neighbors.