Just after 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24, the first snowflakes of a major winter storm began to fall in Oxford. What had seemed like a typical winter weather system just days ago would soon produce record-breaking snowfall.
The timing of the storm couldn’t have been worse for students at Miami University. With spring semester classes scheduled to start on Monday, Jan. 26, the winter storm was set to arrive during peak traveling time for students and their families.
For Sara Calderon, a senior biology, environmental science and Spanish triple major, this meant she had to leave her Akron home sooner than initially planned.
“I was planning on leaving on Friday night to make sure that I got in before all the snow hit on Saturday,” Calderon said, “so I left on Friday morning, and then I just kind of hunkered down.”
On Friday, Jan. 23, while Sara was making her way down to Oxford, she received an email from University Communications saying that it had preemptively canceled the first day of classes on Monday, Jan. 26.
Jayne Brownell, senior vice president for student life and one of the administrators in charge of canceling classes, said concerns for student and faculty travel safety were the primary reason why classes were canceled as early as they were.
“We usually won't send it that early,” Brownell said. “We knew that there were people who could not change the travel plans to come Friday or Saturday when we offered early travel, and we did not want students to feel pressure to try to travel during the storm on Sunday so that they could make it to classes on Monday.”
Within 24 hours of the initial snowflakes falling, Oxford accumulated more than a foot of snow. Dangerous road conditions forced the City of Oxford to declare a level two snow emergency at 6 a.m. on Sunday, meaning road conditions are edxtremely dangerous and people should only travel if absolutely necessary.
Lieutenant Adam Price of the Oxford Police Department (OPD) said that while the City of Oxford is in charge of deciding which level of snow emergency to declare, OPD’s job is to make sure people are aware of them and have other important information.
“We try to get messaging out,” Price said. “We started messaging on Friday on our social media websites, then Saturday afternoon, we also put out messaging that [said] snow routes are going to go into effect this time; [Trying] to let people know, ‘Hey, get your car moved.”
The City of Oxford has designated snow routes, and when snowfall exceeds three inches, cars are no longer permitted to park in these areas. Despite posting on social media and sending messages on Nixle, OPD’s safety text message service, officers still towed around 40 vehicles parked in snow routes.
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“It's expensive,” Price said, “if you do leave your car parked on the snow route and have to get towed – it's roughly $350 with tow fees and tickets.”
But as the snow tapered off and biting cold temperatures persisted, Miami administrators faced another problem. With only a small number of employees in the Physical Facilities Unit working to clear pathways and roadways, conditions were still unsafe for students traveling back to campus.
So, at roughly noon on Monday, University Communications sent an email to students and faculty stating that classes on Tuesday, Jan. 27, would be remote and that the campus would be closed again. However, residence halls remained open, and dining halls, the Recreation Center, Student Health Services and Armstrong Student Center opened at 10 a.m.
“Our physical facilities department has been working so hard,” Brownell said. “They have been absolutely incredible. But there are only so many people, and so they are still clearing sidewalks and roads. So, we also wanted to be virtual to keep people kind of away from walking around campus, and give that staff time to finish cleaning.”
With two days free of in-person classes, Miami students have started to embrace the cold and the snow. Students could be found sledding down the hills of Peffer Park or even skiing and snowboarding in the streets of Oxford.
While Calderon said she had fun playing in the snow with her friends, she recognized that the decision to move classes online was truly the best for student safety.
“It was definitely a good call,” Calderon said. “I know that a lot of people coming from out of Ohio, their flights probably got canceled, and the driving conditions yesterday and Saturday were not ideal. I feel like it wouldn't have been fair to ask the students to drive all the way back and make it unsafe for them to make it to class and stuff.”
On Jan. 26, the City of Oxford canceled its snow emergency level. While the snow has stopped, Butler County is under a Cold Weather Advisory until noon on Wednesday, Jan. 28.
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