2010

The mathematics of solving the UK snow problem

Posted By : Shaun McCran
Related Categories: General Interest, Social media

I've had enough of the UK news whining about the weather conditions. I was raised in Scandinavia, where they have a more resolute disposition towards the snow. It is something that happens every year, and you learn to get on with it.

So I got to thinking, what do I do when it snows? I get out there and I clear it off. I grab the shove/broom and I clear it out of the way. What would happen if the able bodied population of the country did the same, instead of sitting around complaining? Manpower is free, and its readily available.

This article examines the theoretical maths involved in that idea.

It's simple really, we need to work out how many people can sweep, and what area they will be sweeping.

References for facts/figures are at the end.

There are 60,003,000 people in the UK, remove approx 35% for the elderly, disabled and those unable to sweep/shovel.

view plain print about

160,003,000 - 35% (21,001,050) = 39,001,950

Area of the country = 244,820 km2 (94,526 miles2), approx 50% land usage is critical (roads, paths and runways) = 244,820 km2 /2 = 122,410 km2

Divide the people into the populated area of the country

view plain print about

139,001,950 / 122,410 = 318.617, round down to 318
2318.00 people per square kilometre

There are one million (1,000,000, 1 x 106) square meters in a square kilometre.

view plain print about

11,000,000 meters divided by 318.00 = 3144.65 meters per person.

If we say that each person take four movements (sweeps or shovels) to clear a meter, then that makes 3144.65 x 4 = 12578.6 'sweeps'. Lets round that up to 12580.

If we then say that each 'sweep' takes 1 seconds, that means that the time taken is 12580 seconds.

view plain print about

1Divide this by 60 = 209.6 minutes, divided by 60 for hours = 3.5 hours

So in approximately 3.5 hours we could clear 50% of the country of its snow.

Obviously this doesn't take into account the logistics, and the management, but you get the gist.

So the figures might not be exact, but it illustrates the point quite well.
1. UK area / population stats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain
2. UK population by age stats - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=6

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I like the way you think, far to much time on your hand tho lol :)

# Posted By Glyn Jackson | 19/12/2010 18:52

Cheers :-)

Was a sunday afternoon musing that turned into an idea...

# Posted By Shaun McCran | 19/12/2010 21:57

I'm sure more people would be willing to help clear the snow, but you don't take into account the great British blame culture and 'elf n' safety. Some councils said that if you clear the snow away from the pavement outside your house and someone slips then you will be responsible for any claim made. Sadly, the way things have gone over the last decade, people feel that if you get involved then you become a candidate for blame. But I salute anyone who defies this and goes out of their way to shovel snow, especially if it's to help others.

Earlier this year I gritted nearly half my road. We stockpiled several bags of grit just in case and might do the same again. If one person volunteers to do 100 meters then it won't take that many people to grit residential roads that councils never get round to gritting.

What if someone sets up a GritMyStreet.com website where people pledge to grit or clear 10 to 50m in front of their house? Hmm, actually it could turn into a defendant list for money grabbing claimants and solicitors! Bad idea!

# Posted By Gary F | 19/12/2010 23:31

I think you fall down in your assumption here:
"If we then say that each 'sweep' takes 1 seconds"

Having shovelled some snow and ice recently I'd say it takes more like 10 seconds to do it properly. It's hard work, not just like sweeping some dust with a broom.

So 3.5 hrs becomes more like 35 hrs per person. Nice idea though.

# Posted By duncan | 23/12/2010 14:20

Diagree about the practicality of all that, but fully like the North American culture that you are responsable for the snow infront of your house. If we all cleared pathways outside our front door, that would be a large majority of the "in use" pavements cleared.

# Posted By Jay asda | 23/12/2010 14:22

@duncan, a fair point, some people are better sweepers than others, and perhaps 1 second a sweep is a bit optimistic.

@Jay, its not really a practical solution, there are some major issues with the process, for example it would take quite a lot of resource and organisation to actually coordinate the effort. Also the spread of population is a big issue, as most people are in cities, so the activity would not be evenly spread.

I do think your point is very good tho, people should look after their own 'area', it would go a long way to sorting out the issue.

# Posted By Shaun McCran | 23/12/2010 15:31

Now all we need is 39 million shovels!

# Posted By duncan | 23/12/2010 16:15

Fair enough, good article though Shaun, and i love that you too are tired of the whining.

# Posted By Jay asda | 05/01/2011 13:55

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Shaun Mccran

The mathematics of solving the UK snow problem