For me, we have open fields to the west, and the never ending breeze/winds blow the snow from that field over our driveway. It is common for me to clear snow in morning, again at lunch and after dinner. 1 foot high drifts are the norm. And placement is a crap shoot as well, because there are few guidelines and none that pertain to our topography. Starting off 60' upwind from driveway. We'll see how that works out. Driveway is at the top of the area elevation.
It was kind of an experiment, to see if I could capture the snow for yard moisture, I guess. Seemed to work, so I'm keeping it up. Wind out here is constant and can come from any direction. The driveway bushes grew a bunch this year, so I'll see how well they work.
Yes, if you have the room, 10 - 30 feet away is the usual advice. For this fence, it doesn't matter and I don't have room anyway, for the driveway bushes.
After my wire ties and zip tie failures due to our Wyoming winds, I ended up running smooth fence wire on both sides of the snow fence, so the snow fence is sandwiched between the wires. Since I've done that I haven't had to repair it going on three years now. It survived last weeks 50 mph south wind gusts and later 40 mph north wind gusts. Before I was repairing it multiple times a year. "Here" you want the fence about 50' upwind of what you are protecting.
Iowa winds may not be the same as Wyoming, but they seem close. It's often crazy windy here.
I do. There is actually two parallel fences. 50' apart. Keeps the garage/shop parking area pretty clear. Used to have huge drifts in front of the doors.
