Forever...frozen?

While the snow emergency closed Ohio University earlier this week, the Athens campus was still filled with students and snowballs.

OHIO students pulled on their best winter clothes (even though a few were still wearing shorts…), used their best engineering skills to create sleds, organized activities on all campuses, and made snowmen that will last a few weeks and memories that will last a lifetime.

The level three snow emergency closed Ohio University and all of its campuses on Monday, Jan. 26, and Tuesday, Jan. 27, and forced all classes to be held virtually on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

The snow emergency meant cars were supposed to stay off the roads in Athens County and most counties in the region, although essential employees traveled to campus to keep the culinary services locations open and to keep campus operating for students. These dedicated employees worked long hours and traveled in tough conditions to keep campus safe and operating smoothly.

And while students did not have classes, they caught up on studying as well as on playing, as they organized snowball fights on the College Green, found fun spots to sled around campus and enjoyed the splendor of OHIO’s scenic campus covered in snow.

Across Athens County, the snowfall totals from the weekend storm were between six and nine inches, according to Professor Ryan Fogt, director of the Scalia Laboratory for Atmospheric Analysis. The snowfall amount varied in part due to how much sleet the different parts of the county received.

Fogt explained that the county sleet totals were between 0.4 and 0.6 inches. The sleet then refroze onto the snow, which added about two inches of a layer of ice to the snow.

The combination of snow and ice made shoveling snow heavy and difficult work, and made it challenging to clear the streets and sidewalks. And while OHIO students, faculty and staff dealt with these issues, much of the country was also impacted by the major storm.

“This was one of the larger storms stretching from Texas all the way to New England. It had a region of heavy ice (freezing rain), heavy snow, and even heavy rain in the far south,” Fogt said. “It was a very impressive storm, originally drawing moisture from both the Pacific and Atlantic (Gulf of Mexico) oceans. The cold that set in behind, while not record, is also one of the longest and hardest cold spells we have had in years.”

Today (Jan. 29), temperatures were below 0 to begin the day, and the bitter cold is expected to continue until next week. You can see the full forecast on the Scalia Laboratory website. OHIO students, faculty and staff work throughout the year at the Scalia Laboratory, where students receive valuable experience researching the weather and putting together the daily forecasts.

Watch Ryan Fogt describe Scalia Lab and recount his weather adventures

While the temperatures remain low this week at Ohio University, though, spirits are remaining high: Bobcats enjoy spending time together in any type of weather.