WASHINGTON — Nearly 20 inches of snow blanketed the nation’s capital over the weekend. While inches and feet are the go-to method for measuring snowfall accumulation, there is another tool — D.C. monuments and memorials.
According to the National Park Service “Math Rangers,” crews are moving 8.25 million cubic feet of snow from memorials, roads, parking lots and sidewalks, which is enough to fill the Washington Monument 18.4 times.
And the weight of that snow, they say, is 1.6 times heavier than the entire Lincoln Memorial.
A look at the numbers provided by the NPS, based on a snowfall of 20 inches:
• Sidewalks — 55 miles at an average of 5 feet wide = 2.42 million cubic feet of snow
• Roads — 47 lane miles = 3.73 million cubic feet of snow
• Memorial plazas and steps — 600,000 square feet = 1.0 million cubic feet of snow
• Parking lots — 15 acres = 1.1 million cubic feet of snow
That comes to a grand total of 8.25 million cubic feet of snow, which the NPS says is enough to fill the interior of the Washington Monument more than 18 times.
The NPS says that by weight, assuming 15 pounds per cubic foot of settled snow was handled, that equates to 123,750,000 pounds (61,875 tons) of snow.
NPS crews are responsible for clearing and treating nearly 300 miles of roads, 155 bridges and more than 100 miles of sidewalks.
