On average, the City of Philadelphia receives about 20 inches of snow a year, according to the National Climate Data Center. The Streets Department keeps (some of) the city streets cleared; residents, landlords and business owners are supposed to shovel a 30-inch path on their sidewalks within six hours after a storm ends.

At Penn, Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) is responsible for clearing sidewalks and walkways, from the Schuylkill River to 41st Street, and from the School of Medicine buildings to Chestnut Street. Parking lots are the responsibility of the Business Services Division’s Department of Transportation and Parking.

In this edition of By The Numbers, we plow through snow removal at Penn.

18 Amount of snow in inches that Penn received last year.

1.3 Square feet, in millions, of walkways that FRES is responsible for clearing after each snow or ice storm.

25 Number of snow blowers at FRES’s disposal. There are also five gators with plows and spreaders, five trucks with plows and salt spreaders, one tractor with a broom, several smaller machines with brooms and many, many shovels.

231 Tons of rock salt used last year at Penn.

42 Number of FRES employees on the Urban Park Staff, responsible for handling all outside areas of campus.

140,000 Approximate amount, in pounds, of calcium chloride used on campus last year to melt ice.

30 Number of staff members housekeeping brings in to tackle off-hour storms, those that occur on nights or weekends. During off-hour storms, housekeeping concentrates on buildings that remain open 24 hours.