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Here's how big a snowman you can build with all that nor'easter snow in your yard

Two feet of snow in your yard? You could be able to make a snowman 18 feet tall!

By Scott Sistek Source FOX Weather
Make sure to follow FOX Weather on social media for more videos, photos and coverage of the nor'easter. Don't forget to tag us in your weather photos or use #FOXWeather. 03:00

FOX Weather Watchers want you to see the nor'easter outside their home

Make sure to follow FOX Weather on social media for more videos, photos and coverage of the nor'easter. Don't forget to tag us in your weather photos or use #FOXWeather.

BOSTON -- There are several inches of snow -- or perhaps snow even measured in feet -- in your yard after the big Blizzard of '22 blew through town.

You could look at all that snow piled up and start to dig yourself out.

Or…you can start constructing one giant snowman!

How giant? FOX Weather is here to help, with the assistance of math professor Anna Szczepanek who created the Snowman Calculator through Omni Calculator.

Her tool can help you determine how to build the biggest snowman possible based on the size of your yard, how much snow fell, and the water content of the snow.

LEARN: How Szezepanek's Snowman Calculator works

For example, let's take a yard that is around 2,500 square feet -- a more urban-sized yard.

FILE - Whitman, MA - January 7: 

(John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe / Getty Images)

In Boston, the National Weather Service measured 23.5 inches of snow -- we'll go 24 inches to round up. Some places south of Boston received even more, while Long Island also checked in around the two-foot mark.

MORE: Top Snow Totals from Blizzard of 2022 

If you were to scoop up 80% of the snow in your yard and turn it into a traditional snowman with a spherical head, torso and base, and if you were a perfectionist and wanted the middle ball to be exactly twice the size of the head, and the base to be three times the size of the head, you would have enough snow to make a snowman with a 9-foot base that would become 18 feet tall!

LEARN: Why Snowfall Rate is Important to Understanding Winter Weather

Just…be sure to pick the spot where you want him to live for the duration of the event because Szczepanek calculates how heavy each snowman would weigh, and your yard behemoth would check-in at nearly 15,000 pounds.

Your actual snowman might not reach quite that height -- any snowman-building veteran knows you need to have some good packing snow where temperatures are closer to freezing, and the water content of the snow is higher.

LEARN: Snow Ratios – How Much Snow Can an Inch of Rain Produce? 

During Saturday's blizzard, temperatures were in the teens, and our FOX Weather reporters confirmed the snow was a dry "champagne" snow that was tough to pack. So you'll likely need to wait until the weather warms a little closer to freezing and the snow gets closer to melting.

FILE - A snowman is seen in Dumbo, Brooklyn, New York, the United States, on Jan. 7, 2022. 

(Michael Nagle/Xinhua / Getty Images)

It'll make for better snowman building but will sap some available snow. But remember, the calculation above left a 20% snowpack buffer, so maybe just steal more snow in the building process.

How long will the snowman last?

If you're proud of your work and hope your new snowman will be a long-time member of the yard decorations, Szczepanek even calculates how long it'll take your snowman to melt.

The caveat here is this assumes 100% controlled temperature conditions -- like in a sealed room with no sunshine and no temperature variance. In that case, if you took Boston's average high of 37 degrees in January and the temperature never wavered, and there was no wind or sunshine to aid in melting, your snowman would live for…over three years (39 months.)

Even if you could somehow move your 15,000-pound Frosty inside (I hope you have vaulted ceilings and a big door) and keep it at a constant room temperature of 68 degrees, that 15-foot snowman would last six months.

What if I didn't get 24 inches of snow?

No worries! We've added the calculator below to see how large of a snowman could grace your yard.

For example, even in New York City, where around 10 inches fell, you could craft a 14-foot snowman if you could find a yard with 2,500 square feet. Even 1,000 square feet of space could get a 10-foot tall snowman in 10 inches of snow.

 

And, of course, we'd be eager to see your snow-building work! Don't forget to tag us in your weather photos or use #FOXWeather.

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