Via PlanItMetro.

Snow is bad for Metro. So was the federal government shutdown. But which, you may wonder, is worse for the system in terms of ridership?

PlanItMetro crunched the numbers and a snow closure on December 10, 2013 came out on top. Big time. As the blog gathers, this is likely because snow affects everyone, while the shutdown mainly affected nonessential government employees.

They also calculated which stations were affected by each event. When it snows most stations see a large decrease (45 percent of a normal day), while only the Federal Triangle and Federal Center SW stations saw a big decrease during the shutdown. Five stations — Arlington Cemetery, Dupont Circle, U Street, Gallery Place and Fort Totten — actually saw an increase in ridership during the October shutdown. Still, Metro lost $5.5 million during the 16-day event.