The weekend of Jan. 22 marked the first significant snowfall of the winter for the Northeast. Elizabethtown College was blanketed by over 30 inches of snow, mandating a snow day on Monday, Jan. 25, which concluded with a campus-wide power outage.
Dubbed the “Blizzard of 2016,” “Snowpocalypse,” “Snowzilla” and, more officially, “Winter Storm Jonas,” Saturday’s extreme weather broke New York City’s Central Park’s record for most inches of snow in one day. Forty-eight people died during the storm in the Northeast,
The Harrisburg area was covered with an average of 30.2 inches of snow, according to AccuWeather. Etown had just under three feet.
The snow began late afternoon on Friday and continued into Sunday morning. Cleanup efforts began almost immediately, and all students received a winter weather advisory email warning them about the impending heavy snow and wind. Elizabethtown Borough declared a snow emergency Friday night, and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolfe declared a state of emergency on Thursday in preparation for the weekend.
Students were advised by campus officials to remain indoors between Saturday and Sunday. RAs hosted activities in the residence halls to encourage staying in. All other campus activities were cancelled for the duration of the weekend and only Campus Security and essential personnel remained available to students.
After classes and practices were cancelled Monday, a power outage affected the whole of campus between approximately 5 and 10 p.m. Students in residence hall Founders were encouraged to stay elsewhere overnight, as they had no heat for a time.
The following morning, freezing rain iced over the roads walkways, preventing
faculty from safely making it to campus. The school day was delayed until 11 a.m., then further postponed until 12:30 p.m.
At the time of publication, almost all walking paths on campus have been cleared. Students have been asked to remove the snow from their vehicles. Campus Security has shovels available for rent. Plans to clear parking lots will soon be underway.
