Thursday, January 31, 2008

Oh My, That's a Lot of Dandruff

So the snow's falling and we've had at least an inch already, and the News-Gazette's meteorologist is calling for 8-10 inches of total accumulation from the storm, not counting the blowing and drifting that's sure to occur afterwards. The University sent out a massmail on how it was planning to deal with the snow, including pretreating streets and sidewalks before the snow started to fall in earnest. On my way home I could definitely see a difference between the sidewalks controlled by campus and by private owners. Even so, whether or not we see a repeat closing of the school will probably depend on the rate of snowfall, and whether or not the cities and the universities can keep up with it overnight. Myself, I doubt that the Chancellor will call off classes, but I guess we'll see in the morning.

Also, this'll probably be the first real test of the Champaign ordinance requiring private property owners in Campustown to clear snow from their sidewalks within a few days of the end of the storm, or face a fee when the city does it for them. Hopefully the frats will get their acts together and get it done, rather than let the snow pile up until the city comes around.

For those who wish to check it every 30 seconds,here's a link to the News-Gazette's closings page.

UPDATE: The News-Gazette reports that Uni High is closed tomorrow, though the University is still open. I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason Uni High is closed is because some/all of its feeder district busses will not be running. I'd also like to make clear that I'd really like it if the University were closed tomorrow, as I've been accused in the comments of not thinking Positive University Closing Thoughts.

UPDATE, Part Deux: The University of Illinois is open for classes Friday, 1 February 2008.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, come on, squire. You have to have Positive University Closing Thoughts! It seems every thing else in town will be shuttered. After last year, there is no way I'm heading in to work if it's still snowing. I almost lost my poor old Tortise somewhere between a snowdrift and Randolph St.

The Squire said...

I'd love to have a reason not to go into work tomorrow. Thing is, last year's snow days were the first in almost thirty years. I'd be surprised if we had two in a row.

Anonymous said...

Hey, you were right. After the fiasco regarding whether or not the U can take away a vacation day from us when they closed last year, our dear Chancellor would declare everything open for business even if lakes of fire had started running through the quad.

Pretty much everyone in my office is staying home, including me. Ford Tortises are not snowplows.

The Squire said...

Yay for the AAP screaming when they heard about the vacation thing. Not that I didn't end up coming in both days last year - the first because the internet where I was living was down so I didn't get the email, the second because cells need to be subcultured every few days and don't really care that there's a foot of snow on the ground.

I live relatively close to campus, and having walked in since my bus was very late, I can actually see why the chancellor didn't cancel classes - namely, that the snow isn't nearly as deep and a lot of it has been cleared from the sidewalks already, at least closer in to campus. As you'll remember, the only reason the Chancellor closed the school last year was because students were walking in the streets to get to class, and, at least when I came in, I wasn't seeing that happening.