Brad Williams drove back to campus early at the end of his Spring Break in March 1993, right before a storm dumped more than three feet of snow on the area and Syracuse University canceled classes.  

‘I drove back on Friday because I knew the roads would be bad,’ he said. ‘I stopped at Wegmans to get beer and Blockbuster on Erie Boulevard. I prepared myself to get snowed in.’

And snowed in he was. A total of 42 inches fell between March 14 and 15, said Dave Nicosia, representative for the Binghamton, N.Y., National Weather Service station and the Syracuse area.

Monday’s cancellation of classes marks the first time since March 15, 1993, that SU canceled an entire day of school because of a snowstorm. Since 1993, the university has canceled classes after a certain time but never for a full day. On Feb. 14, 2007, SU canceled classes after 12:45 p.m., according to a Daily Orange article published that day. Last year on Feb. 25, all classes after 2 p.m. were canceled.

Williams, a junior broadcast journalism major during the 1993 storm, knew there was supposed to be a bad snowstorm that weekend, so he ended his Spring Break early to drive back to Syracuse on Friday from Pennsylvania, he said. When he awoke Saturday morning, Williams said he could only see the antenna of his car.

‘I think I walked around outside a bit that weekend, just to get out of the house,’ Williams said. ‘The snow drifts were up to my chest.’

Kenneth ‘Buzz’ Shaw, SU chancellor at the time, said there were many bad storms that winter, including one that left a rip in the Carrier Dome. When the snow piles up too high on the Dome, the internal heat is not enough to melt it, Shaw said. Workers had to get onto the roof to try to clear the snow, but that did not work, he said.

‘The Dome had a huge rip in it and snow came in, and it had to be patched up in three days for a basketball game,’ he said. ‘We had to work about 72 hours running to get it ready in time for the basketball game.’

During the March ’93 storm, Shaw said he remembers driving home at noon after making the decision that morning to close SU. When he left the university, the roads were in OK condition, but when Shaw arrived at his house, the snow was so high that he could not drive the car into his own driveway, he said.

‘The call to cancel school had a lot to do with whether or not the parking lots can be cleaned up,’ Shaw said. ‘If you can’t get the lots cleared, you know it’s really bad.’ 

The interesting aspect about the 1993 cancelation was the timing of the storm, said David Pennock, a freshman speech communications major in 1993. 

‘One of the reasons they canceled classes was because everybody was gone. The roads and the airports weren’t open,’ he said. ‘Even if they had classes, they wouldn’t be able to get to campus.’ 

Pennock stayed in his hometown near Albany until Monday, March 15, waiting for the New York State Thruway to open. Pennock remembers taking a bus from Albany to the Regional Transportation Center in Syracuse that afternoon. His journey back to campus did not end there, though.

‘Three or four of us all heading back to campus piled into a cab,’ he said. ‘I remember the cab just barely being able to make it.’ 

When the cab dropped Pennock off in the driveway in front of Sadler Hall, Pennock had to walk around Sadler to get to Lawrinson Hall. Pennock remembers the pathway between the two buildings had not been shoveled at the time, but a few people before him had forged a path with their footsteps.

‘The path was as wide as one foot. I was literally stepping through people’s footsteps,’ said the 1996 graduate who now works as the assistant director of facilities and operations in the student centers and programming services at SU. 

Rosanna Grassi, associate dean for student affairs in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, remembers the snow day as well. Grassi said people were called by the main university line or listened to WAER to receive news of the cancellation.

Grassi called faculty members to confirm the university was indeed closed because it was such a rare occurrence. Grassi, who has been at SU since the early 1970s, said she could not remember a single snow day before 1993. 

Grassi had planned to catch a bus at Manley Field House or walk to campus that Monday because the roads outside her house on Comstock Avenue had been plowed. Her plans, however, quickly altered. 

‘I changed my mind rather quickly after I opened my garage door,’ Grassi said. ‘I couldn’t open my front door since there was too much snow against it.’

Since the storm in 1993, Grassi has come to expect snowstorms in March, she said. The most recent storm, however, arrived a little earlier than she expected, she said. 

‘But perhaps that means spring will arrive a little earlier than usual,’ she said. ‘I am hopeful.’

medelane@syr.edu

— News Editor Dara McBride contributed reporting to this article. 

Published on March 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Meghin: medelane@syr.edu | @meghinwithani