12 Feb 2015

Boston’s record-breaking snow in numbers

The US city of Boston has been firmly in the grip of winter during the past month and literally plunged into copious amounts of snow.

A persistent weather pattern of the jet stream diving southwards across the north east of the US has allowed frigidly cold air to pour out of the Arctic.

This harsh cold has been met with active low pressure systems repeatedly hitting much of New England, giving an unbelievable amount of snow in the last month, after a very quiet start to the winter season.Boston Hit With Third Snowstorm In Three Weeks

243,766 miles ploughed

The number of miles that Boston’s snow ploughs have travelled so far this winter season – more than the distance between the earth and the moon, which is around 238, 855 miles.

70,014 tons of salt

This is how much salt has been spread on the city’s roads so far this winter, which is the same weight as around 5000 of London’s new Routemaster buses.

136,763 hours ploughed

Equivalent to almost 5700 days or 15.6 years, this is the epic amount of time that snow ploughs have spent on the roads this winter season.

78.5 inches

This is the total amount of snow that has fallen in Boston so far this winter. Whilst not yet reaching the snowiest winter on record (1995-96), when 107.6 inches fell, it means that the city has broken its 14-day, 20-day and 30-day snowfall records. And just when you thought that there couldn’t possibly be any more snow on the way, it looks as though another snowstorm may hit New England this weekend.


I’ll be keeping a close eye on the weather there in the coming days and posting updates on Twitter – @liamdutton

Source: Boston Department of Public Works

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