One New Jersey homeowner stayed warm while Winter Storm Fern hammered the Garden State Sunday — as he sent a robotic snowblower outside to do the dirty work.
Tom Moloughney, a northern New Jersey resident and host of a popular YouTube channel focused on electric vehicles and charging tech, posted videos on X showing his autonomous Yarbo snow blower clearing his roughly 6,000-square-foot driveway during the storm.
“So far, it’s kicking A$$!” Moloughney wrote Sunday morning, adding that the machine would recharge to about 80% after roughly 1.25 hours before automatically heading back out to resume work.
The posts, which racked up hundreds of thousands of views, showed the robot completing its first pass, returning to its charging dock and preparing to restart on its own.
“This is going to be a great test to see if this robot can handle a 6,000 sq.ft. driveway during a major winter storm,” Moloughney wrote. “I’m inside sipping a coffee while it’s doing its job and so far so good!”
Winter Storm Fern swept through New Jersey beginning early Sunday, bringing a messy mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain that complicated cleanup across much of the state.
Parts of northern New Jersey saw about 4-5 inches of snow, including roughly 5 inches in Bergen County and more than 4 inches in Essex and Union counties.
Central areas ranged from roughly 3 to 6 inches, while South Jersey generally picked up 4 to 5 inches, with lower totals in some coastal and airport locations where precipitation turned icy.
Forecasters said Winter Storm Fern was expected to leave significant snow on the ground across the state by the time it moves out, with totals varying sharply by region.
Northwestern and far northern parts of the state were forecast to see the heaviest accumulations, ranging from 12 to 18 inches — with isolated areas possibly topping 20 inches — while northeastern and central New Jersey were expected to finish with roughly 8 to 12 inches.
Snowfall totals were forecast to drop closer to the coast and farther south, with the Jersey Shore and southern counties projected to see about 4 to 10 inches amid sleet and freezing rain that could limit pure snow accumulation.
As the storm unfolded, Moloughney said he would keep his Yarbo snow blower running throughout, allowing it to clear snow in multiple passes rather than waiting for the storm to end.
He restarted the machine remotely when fresh snow accumulated, letting it return to its charging dock, recharge, and head back out on its own — a strategy he said helped keep his long driveway manageable even as snow and ice continued to pile up.
Earlier this month, Moloughney posted a separate YouTube video reviewing the Yarbo’s performance during a New Year’s snowstorm, offering a more detailed look at the machine’s real-world limitations.
The footage showed the robot navigating pre-mapped paths along his long driveway, stopping automatically when it detected nearby people and returning to its charging dock when battery levels dropped.
Moloughney said the unit completed the lower portion of his driveway on a single charge before recharging, then successfully resumed clearing snow while he was away at a doctor’s appointment. At one point, he restarted the system remotely from about 20 miles away after another inch of snow fell.
The test was not without issues.
Moloughney said the robot became stuck early after hitting an icy mound left behind by a previous plowing, and later continued operating with only one side of its auger spinning after a shear pin broke — a problem he didn’t realize until he returned home.
In his next-day assessment, Moloughney gave the machine a “C to C-plus” grade, citing difficult conditions and his own initial setup choices.
“This was not an easy snow,” he said, noting that roughly an inch of ice from hours of hail was topped by about 1 to 2 inches of snow.
The Post has sought comment from Moloughney and Yarbo.
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