Despite another city snow emergency and several school cancellations in surrounding areas, business continued as usual at UW-Madison during Tuesday’s five-inch snowfall.
Madison has already received over 20 inches of snow in December. The city was continuing to adjust to the heavy snowfalls of Dec. 1 and 4 when Tuesday’s storm added to the accumulation.
“It’s really just, I think, a typical Wisconsin snowfall,” Liz Beyler of University Communications said, explaining that UW-Madison rarely closes due to snow.
In other areas of the state, the rarity of shutting down campus for a weather emergency became reality. Both UW-Milwaukee and UW-Whitewater cancelled classes for the entire day, while Madison Area Technical College and Edgewood College closed at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.
For several UW-Madison students, having classes during a snowstorm created less than favorable traveling conditions.
UW-Madison junior Ben Trachtenberg braved the slushy sidewalks on his way to class. Trachtenberg said he was not pleased with the accumulating snowfall on city sidewalks and streets.
“The only place that snow belongs is on a mountain or on Bascom Hill for sledding,” Trachtenberg said. “I felt like I was going to roll my ankle about a million times.”
Other students traveled to class using the bus system. Jennifer Bacon of Madison Metro said that the buses were running about 20 to 30 minutes behind schedule. Snow covered roads around campus caused delays for commuters and students alike.
“We were having some trouble getting up some of the hills around campus with our buses,” Bacon said. “So that was slowing them down quite a bit.”
The city’s plows were out during the day trying to combat the snow as it fell. Major plowing jobs can take between 10 and 12 hours to complete, according to George Dreckmann, Madison’s streets and recycling coordinator. He said plows were sent out for a final time around 10 p.m. last night to clear any remaining snow before today’s morning rush hour.
While the city continues to deal with the snow, so does the university.
Tuesday’s snowfall and even last semester’s sub-zero temperatures did not justify cancellation of classes at UW-Madison.
“We seldom close,” Beyler said, noting that the last time the university closed due to snowfall was in 1990, when Madison was hit with 17 inches of snow in a short time period.
