"500 plows in the whole of the UK"

[randomness]

So, I just heard on PRI's "The World" radio news show that the United Kingdom has 500 snowplows for the entire country.

They gave no context for this number. The story certainly gives the impression that this is very few, but how many is a reasonable number? I don't know how many snowplows Massachusetts has, for example.

Leaving aside whether this is true, whether this number only counts plows under the control of the Ministry of Transport, or what... I still don't know how that number compares with places which get more snow.

I'm not blaming the show, as this was more or less an atmosphere piece about how England has come to a sliding, slippery halt because of the weather; but I am really wondering what a baseline number of plows is for a place that gets snow regularly.

Comments

[earthling177.livejournal.com]

Oh, Gosh, I was gonna tell you this story when you were here and forgot, altho, chances are, I may have already told you this years ago.

So, I forgot where the guy was from, either US or Canada, but I think from around the Great Lakes. Either way, he worked for the same company my brother used to work in Brazil, and they have factories in lots of different countries. In any case, a few years ago, both of them were in France and overheard some story of people getting killed by avalanches during winter. So the guy says "that's weird, where I'm from, they have patrols and equipment and they use dynamite to prevent avalanches that are serious enough to kill people, why don't they do it here, the tech is really simple?" and the French guy says essentially, "C'est la vie, they know it's risky, they go anyway, why should we have to pay to save their asses?" -- which makes me wonder if people in Europe in general are just so used to snow hosing everything that they don't care the country stops for a while.

And I'll join the other voices, I don't think even places in US have enough snow equipment to deal with storms except that they hire private people to work for them during emergencies. Because no matter how small the area they are talking about is (even if it's just England, for example, instead of UK), 500 plows seems a tad too little. Definitely they won't be done in a day or two.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Yeah. In Canada, they use artillery.

From http://www.dnd.ca/site/commun/ml-fe/article-eng.asp?id=3569:

MOUNT REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Are you among the 2 800 daily motorists who travel the Trans-Canada Highway through Rogers Pass during the treacherous winter months? Whatever your reason, your ability to safely transit this 18 km stretch of highway can be greatly credited to the efforts of Canadian soldiers who help Parks Canada with avalanche control.

For over 45 years, the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (1 RCHA) from Shilo, Man., has used artillery fire to assist Parks Canada with avalanche control in Rogers Pass/Glacier National Park, B.C.

Artillery fire from 105 mm howitzers, towed to one of 18 roadside circular gun platforms, is often used to artificially trigger an avalanche rather than risk the volatility of a naturally occurring avalanche. “Our goal is to induce an avalanche before it can become larger and therefore a danger to traffic,” said Lieutenant Robert Vandermolen, troop commander.

Parks Canada operates the world’s largest mobile avalanche control program to keep the Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway operating through Rogers Pass. During winter months, snow avalanche technicians maintain a constant watch over weather and snowpack conditions. The artillery takes its cues on when and where to fire from these snow experts.

“The only live fire that happens on the highway is in defence of that highway and is co-ordinated by my team,” said Bruce McMahon, senior avalanche officer at Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks. “We close and sweep the highway in the area of concern to ensure there are no civilian vehicles within the danger or avalanche areas before beginning avalanche control operations.”

Under the direction of the avalanche forecasters from Parks Canada, the Army bombards known trigger zones high up the avalanche paths. The shock waves from exploding shells fired by the artillery will trigger avalanches when snow conditions are right. With the highway closed, the avalanches can thunder harmlessly down the slopes.

I remember seeing the signs for this when we drove down the Trans-Canada.