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By Joseph A. Curtatone

Taking a closer look at notable city data—and interesting numbers.  With snow season officially upon us, here’s a look at some numbers on City snow operations and snow emergencies.

4 feet: The Boston area gets an average of about four feet of snow each year. But if you’re lived here for even a few years, you know that winters can vary wildly. There have been years when we’ve only seen a couple of feet, but there have also been years like 2015 when we got around nine feet of snow, most of it falling between mid-February and mid-March. Although we don’t know what we’re in for each winter, City staff – especially at DPW – have to plan and be ready for snow, ice, and whatever else Mother Nature throws at us.

88 vehicles: Part of getting ready for winter is making sure we have the equipment to treat and clear roads, bike and bus lanes, and other City property. This winter we have 88 vehicles ready to go in case of a storm. Most are City-owned, but that also includes equipment we’ve rented and contractor-owned vehicles. Our snow fleet includes plows, sanders, and specialized equipment like smaller plows that can be used in narrow spaces like a bike lane or sidewalk.

3,000 tons: This year DPW started the winter with 3,000 tons of salt. How much of that gets used depends on the weather, but it doesn’t go to waste if we have a mild winter. There is storage at the DPW where they can keep extra salt and, if the winter is particularly bad, they can order and store more throughout the season. This year we’re piloting technology on a few routes that tracks salt coverage. The hope is that this will help save salt and time by helping drivers make decisions about where to salt and avoiding accidentally doubling up on coverage.

As many as possible: Although they’re necessary for public safety, I think it’s safe to say that snow emergencies have few, if any, fans. We have to ensure that plows are able to clear snow from the streets and that vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances are able to get through in case of an emergency, but that doesn’t make snow emergencies any less frustrating for people looking for parking. That’s why we don’t take the decision to call a snow emergency lightly. When snow is in the forecast City staff check as many weather reports as possible throughout the day to get the most complete picture of what’s coming our way. Unfortunately, sometimes weather patterns shift quickly and unexpectedly and storms don’t go as “planned,” but we try to wait as long as possible and have the latest forecast before calling a snow emergency.

55,000+: We have more than 55,000 contacts registered in the City alerts system that we use, among other things, to send out information about snow emergencies. If you’re not signed up, visit www.somervillema.gov/alerts to subscribe. You can set your preferences to receive phone, text, and/or email alerts. I strongly recommend choosing all three. Even if you are subscribed, take a minute to make sure your address and contact information is still correct. Some of the other alerts we send out, like information on road closures, is neighborhood specific. City alerts aren’t the only way we get the word out about snow emergencies. We also post information on the City website, City social media feeds, City Cable Channels, and we send information to local and regional news outlets. Flashing blue lights at intersections around Somerville also get activated when there’s a snow emergency. For more on how we share information about snow emergencies, visit www.somervillema.gov/snow.

A month: Most of the time snow emergencies only last a day or two. We know they’re inconvenient and try to lift them as soon as safely possible, but sometimes snow emergencies last longer than anyone would like. The most extreme example was in the winter of 2015 when we had a snow emergency that lasted nearly a month – from February 13 to March 11. Here’s hoping we don’t see a winter like that again!

Data-based decision making is at the core of how the City of Somerville develops policy and sets priorities. Every day we check the latest 311 stats, and throughout the week we meet for in-depth review of departmental data and city trends. The Data Download column shares some of the data we’ve been reviewing recently, as well as interesting updates. To see more Somerville Data, visit the online Somerville Data Farm at www.somervillema.gov/datafarm.