December: A month of snow and numbers

Published 10:13 pm Friday, December 26, 2008

It was the best.

It was the worst.

No matter your opinion, everyone can agree on one thing: It was the biggest.

The snowstorms that swept through Western Washington during the past two weeks have broken as many records as water pipes, and have taxed emergency crews to their limits.

Here’s a look at the storm, by the numbers:

Minus 6: temperature low reached in Arlington on Dec. 20, in degrees Fahrenheit.

25,000: gallons of liquid de-icer used by the state Department of Transportation.

5,900: tons of salt used by DOT road crews.

11,500: cubic yards of salt-sand mix used by DOT road crews.

30: total inches of snow on the ground in Arlington as of Dec. 18.

50,000: miles of public road lanes Snohomish County crews worked to clear since the storms began.

7,000: tons of sand used on county roads.

160: number of county employees who have worked 12-hour shifts every day since the storm began.

76: total number of vehicle collisions in Snohomish County on Dec. 20. That’s the highest number of collisions on any day between Dec. 14, when the storms began, and Dec. 22.

3,166: total number of vehicle collisions that occurred statewide between Dec. 14 and Dec. 22.

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.