This past winter yielded a record-breaking amount of snow in the Lansing area that caused several class cancellations and many issues for campus snow removal.
With 57.3 inches, or about 4.8 feet, of snow between December and February, the 2013-14 winter in the Lansing area placed fifth snowiest in records spanning back to 1863, according to Midwestern Regional Climate Center data.
This past winter also ranked 17th coldest on record.
Snow came down Tuesday afternoon and continued in spurts throughout the evening in some areas. There could be a mixture of rain and snow Thursday, but that’s the last anticipated snowfall in the next several days, according to the Weather Channel.
It was a winter that happens about once every 20 years, NOAA meteorologist Brandon Hoving said, citing 1994 as the last winter of comparable cold.
The piling snow and biting chill quickly became a nuisance for students traveling to class and for university crews who were tasked with clearing the paths.
Snow and weather emergency response teams were brought in around 3 a.m. many times throughout the winter, Infrastructure Planning and Facilities Vice President Kemel Dawkins said.
Dawkins said more than a dozen times, crews had to be called in over the weekend.
“Clearing the snow off was an incredible issue for us and our snow removal crews,” Dawkins said.
When a cold-bearing jet stream flowing through Alaska, Canada and down to the Great Lakes locked in, Michigan received more intrusions of arctic air than normal, Hoving said.
The jet streams, which span across continents, remain established for a while before breaking down, he added.
Dawkins said the weather also damaged the landscapes around campus, harming the heritage trees on north campus and snuffing out some of the flowers, along with creating additional potholes in the roadways.
Although IPF buys salt in bulk, Dawkins said they used double the amount they did last year, and the unforeseeable end to the ice storms caused worry.
“We worried, as did a number of neighboring communities, if we would have enough,” Dawkins said.
Pedram Foushanji, a construction management graduate student, said class cancellations from the snow and cold caused academic complications.
“Things got complicated, because we have everything scheduled day by day so we cannot skip anything,” Foushanji said. “We don’t have any flexibility. It messed up the whole thing — the whole semester.”
He said snow removal efforts on campus were effective, but arriving to class still required extra precaution and time when commuting.
“It was a little bit tricky,” Foushanji said. “You had to plan half an hour earlier. If you had a half an hour drive, you would say it’s an hour now.”
