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<br />RESULTS <br /> <br />Costs of Removing Snow from Natural Storms <br /> <br />Estimated labor and equipment costs to remove snow from natural <br />storms for winters of low, average and high precipitation in each county <br />studied are shown in Tables 2 through 12. As previously stated, cost <br />estimates do not include wages for office staff, wages when machine <br />operators perform tasks other than snow removal, or expenses for <br />supplies. It is probable, therefore, that actual costs of snow removal <br />are higher than these estimated costs. <br /> <br />If a county is divided into maintenance districts, costs are shown <br />separately for each district. COsts are not computed for districts which <br />do not have a National Weather Service cooperative observer site in or <br />near the town in which the district shop is located. Because some <br />districts were excluded, comparisons of costs by county usually are not <br />meaningful. Estimated total costs per employee were computed to <br />facilitate comparisons across districts with unequal numbers of employees. <br /> <br />Districts were grouped qy elevation and topography to explore <br />variations in procedures and costs. Terrain of districts in the <br />"mountainous" group is high and /mountainousi terrain in the <br />"non-mountainous" group is lower and flatter. The average elevation of <br />observation sites in the mountainous districts is nearly 2,000 feet <br />higher than the average elevation of sites in the non-mountainous <br />districts. Grouping of districts is approximate because elevation and <br />topography vary greatly within each district. <br /> <br />Estimated equipment costs are greater than labor costs in each <br />winter examined in each district, about one-third greater in La Plata <br />County, Durango district to about twice as great in San Juan County and <br />Garfield COunty, Glenwood district. <br /> <br />-18- <br />