The National Weather Service reported warnings of winter storms for 19 states. With this time of the year, the snow is actually hurting the economy. A few of the reasons why are that: it costs quite a bit for snow removal (in Kansas City, it costs the government about $150,000 per inch of snow); it keeps people at home, instead of out at malls or movie theaters or restaurants; airlines have to delay or cancel flights when the weather gets bad enough; snow causes more accidents and damages. According to mint.com "if a nationwide blizzard hit American and every U.S. job shut down for a day, the cost in lost productivity would be over $9 billion (not including snow clean up, accidents, lost retail, or canceled flight)." The U.S. Federal Government alone loses $100 million a day in productivity when it shuts down due to snow.
I was really shocked when I read this. That something like snow could make such a big impact on the economy. I've never thought about this, but when I read the statistics, the numbers do seem to make sense. Were you guys as shocked as I was when reading this?
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3 comments:
Haha. I just find it ironic that we're supposedly going through global warming, but we're actually going through (at least in my lifetime) one of the coldest winters of all! However, I think it does make sense that the snow does cause so much havoc. Snow not only forces us to spend more money on heating and electricity bills, but also, we have to spend the time to shovel snow out of our driveways and streets just so we can get places. This weather pattern, although is good for places like Lake Tahoe and other ski resorts, can more easily cause injuries, like frostbite and make the ground more slippery so people may fall more easily. From what I hear from my parents, who lived in Canada for quite some time, shoveling and dealing with snow is definitely back-breaking and tedious to confront.
Mother Nature has consistently shown that we have little control over her ways. Unfortunately, incidents like Hurricane Katrina have proven this. It is no different in this case. I was not at all surprised to hear that snow has this much of an effect on our economy. Who wants to go to the movies when they can't get out of their driveway? And who wants to go to the movies anyway if the cinema is probably shut down?? I think its effect on transportation is the root of the economic problem. Our dependence upon airplanes and cars for quick travel poses a difficulty when it comes to snow. Airports have planes grounded and cars are sometimes banned from the road for a brief period of time, just so that emergency vehicles can help out...and even those get stuck. Makes you wonder whether or not those renowned east coast colleges are worth going to eh? Aren't we spoiled...
Initially when I read your title, I was intrigued and a little shocked. But after thinking about it, it makes sense. It makes sense that snow hinders the economy.
I would assume that it's costly to remove snow from streets. Also, being snowed in hurts the economy. Because people can't go out to malls, grocery stores, movies, etc., they can't spend any money there which results in a loss. Another result from being snowed in is the fact that most people are unable to attend work. This causes a loss in productivity.
All of this is quite shocking especially because I never really thought of the huge impact snow would have on the economy. Before, I felt that snow was seemingly harmless in terms of the economy.
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