The Blizzard of Twenty-Ten, they’ll call it, The Day Princeton Stood Still.

Classes: canceled. Precepts: canceled. Libraries: heroically kept open.

But on Feb. 10, there was little time to study. Though snow days are rare here (the last was in 2003), students knew exactly what was expected of them…

Read more in Princeton Alumni Weekly.

Name: Jessica Lander ‘10
Age: 22
Major: Anthropology
Hometown: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Eating club/residential college/affiliation: Brown Co-op

Why are you so good at making snow sculptures?
An artist mother, some Swiss ancestry, and a lot of determination.

How long did each snow sculpture take to build?
Forty minutes to two hours. Having tons of friends helping makes them go much faster (even with the occasional snowball fight).

What was the best thing you did on Snow Day Wednesday?
Forget about class work, forget about thesis, and revel in being a kid again. Snowball fights, snow sculptures, sledding, hot chocolate, friends, getting completely soaked and not caring a bit – I can’t think of a better way to spend a Princeton day!

Who has better hot chocolate: Small World, Starbucks, Bent Spoon or Halo Pub?
Small World.

What is your best snow day memory?
Building an entire five-room snow hotel in Gilmanton New Hampshire with my brothers, complete with living room, large screen TV and Jacuzzi.

When’s the last time you made a snowman?
About two years ago, two friends and I spent the day making: a snow-professor, complete with sculpted butt cheeks and a podium, emblazoned with a Princeton crest, from which he orated; a “snowfinity” – a four foot tall infinity sign, and a seven-foot tall snow-pineapple.

What is your snowball fight strategy?
Stealth and ambush. (And then run fast.)

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in Princeton?
The Brown Co-op, any day of the week!

What is your greatest guilty pleasure?
Rereading fantasy novels.

What’s the last student performance you saw?
The opening and only performance of The Importance of being Ernest, performed in Emily Sung’s room in honor of Emily Rutherford’s Birthday.

Do you know all the words to Old Nassau?
Yep, learned on the bus back from freshman OA.

What do you hate most about Princeton?
A sense of entitlement.

What’s your favorite place on campus?
Prospect Garden on a sunny spring day. Also, Chancellor Green Rotunda and the Climbing Wall.

Where is the worst place on campus?
The Firestone thesis carrels. They look and feel like jail cells.

What’s your favorite medication?
Tea. There’s a variety of tea for every time of day, mood and illness.

What is the most dangerous thing you’ve done in the past year?
Explored a deep, dark, deserted monk’s cave in Northern Thailand with Denali Barron ’09!

Where do you do your best thinking?
Outside, preferably sitting in a tree or along a river.

What do you order on your pizza?
Caramelized onions, red peppers, basil, mozzarella and, of course, tomato sauce.

What song are you playing on repeat this week?
Tanzanian Bongo Flava

In 25 years, I will be…
Attempting to solve world education, riding a camel fifty-two days from Morocco to Timbuktu, running an Indonesian restaurant, and having at least one adventure a week.

What makes someone a Princetonian?
Being involved in a hundred activities and still feeling inadequate.

(21 Questions inspired by NYMag’s Daily Intel)

Freshman Emi Nakamura constructed this giant igloo outside Community Hall with fellow classmates Hyunmoon Kim ‘13 and Flora Thomson-Deveaux ‘13, who both helped Emi out after she sent a message asking peers to join in on her project over the WhitmanWire, a listserv for Whitman residents. “i’m currently by myself… D: anyone who wants to help me build it is welcome!!!” the message read.

“I was thrilled with the end product, and had no regrets in not catching up on schoolwork whatsoever,” Emi said.

Standing at least 6 feet tall, the igloo took three hours to build. Step inside and you don’t have to bother bending over. It’s warm and extremely quiet; when I took the tour, I could hardly hear anything outside — despite the igloo’s two entrances.

The main complication? According to the architect, the ceiling wasn’t too easy to build. Using recycling bins and trash cans to pack the snow into large bricks, they soon made the walls bend inward, but at a certain point, they worried the ceiling was too high to pack together. “Our concern was [the ceiling's] stability which we maintained by one person holding up a block of snow in place while the others packed loose snow on the adjacent blocks for reinforcement,” Emi said.

Still, though, not too shabby — and a good place to post up if you’re proxless in 1963 Courtyard.

First of all, all classes are canceled. So you can toss that out the window.

Second, what dining facilities are open? All dining halls are, Frist is open, and basically all dining facilities are open besides the WWS Café and Witherspoon’s in Frist (in front of Viv). But Witherspoon’s might be open later today. Café Viv is going to be closed.

Dillon Gym is going to be open also, so you can get your sweat on.

How about non-University stuff?

Well, Panera didn’t respond to our calls, so we can assume they’re closed. Olive’s is open at the moment, but will be closing early (around 2:30). Labyrinth says they’re open right now until noon, but might close for the afternoon. (We recommend calling to make sure if you plan on going up to these places, anyway.)

Wawa said they’re open for business today at the time of this post, and said they’d remain open whatever happened. Troopers, we say, real troopers.

from prayingtodarwin.wordpress.com

“CLASSES CANCELED ENTIRE DAY.”

This is my first ever snow day. And it feels good.

From the University:

Due to the snow storm on Feb. 10, 2010, the Princeton University campus is closed for non-essential employees. Non-essential employees will not be required to report to work. All essential and critical employees must report to duty. All academic classes are canceled for the entire day.

Princeton students, staff and faculty members are advised to check the University home page for updates. Campus opening and closing information is also available on the University’s weather emergency hotline, (609) 258-SNOW.

This is only the fourth time Princeton has closed its campus in the past 15 years. Last year, University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ‘96 told the Princeton Packet:

“Closing the campus is very rare and is done only under extreme, unsafe conditions,” Ms. Cliatt said. “This would take place usually only in a blizzard or other extreme weather situation, and we believe such closing has happened only three times in the past 15 years — in 1996 for a blizzard, in February of 2003 also because of heavy snow and in April of 2007 because of heavy flooding in the region.”

Back in my day, I had to walk through a mile of snow to get to the Street.

UPDATE (4:51 a.m.)

Forget the Winter Storm Warning. The National Weather Service just issued a BLIZZARD WARNING until midnight tonight, saying that the storm will “intensify explosively” today with total snow accumulation between 12 and 22 inches.

If the powers-that-be are awake right now, please read what the NWS is saying and cancel classes (emphasis ours)!

NEAR-BLIZZARD OR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE RARE FOR OUR AREA… SO IT IS LIKELY THAT PEOPLE WILL NOT REALIZE THE PERIL THAT EXISTS IN VENTURING OUT IN SUCH STORMS. LIFE-THREATENING CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE… AND DRIVING WILL BE HAZARDOUS AT BEST DURING THIS WINTER STORM TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT TRAVEL BE CURTAILED DUE TO THE DANGEROUS CONDITIONS… AND ONLY DRIVE IF IT IS TRULY AN EMERGENCY SITUATION.

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT CONDITIONS… MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL… HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED… STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.

“Life-threatening”? President Tilghman, we don’t want to die! Don’t let us die! Die, die, die!

UPDATE (12:51 a.m.)

So it looks like the chances of a snow day tomorrow are slimming rapidly. While New Jersey Governor Christie declared a state of emergency in the Southern counties of the state, nothing has been said about Mercer regarding that same announcement.

That said, a lot of classes have been canceled (check your inbox to see if you’re one of the lucky ones), but no school-wide announcement has been made through any channels.

And the way the weather’s looking (it stopped snowing a while ago), it doesn’t look like any more snow is going to accumulate. Estimates of snowfall are shrinking, too. Weather.com says,

HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR IN TWO BURSTS ACROSS THE REGION. THE FIRST IS UNDERWAY TONIGHT WITH 3 TO 7 INCHES LIKELY TO ACCUMULATE BY THE MORNING COMMUTE WEDNESDAY. THE SECOND SHOT WILL BE AN EVEN MORE INTENSE BURST OF HEAVY SNOW WITH THE UPPER AIR DISTURBANCE ITSELF THAT SHOULD OCCUR IN MOST OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA… MARYLAND… AND DELAWARE DURING WEDNESDAY MORNING AND NEW JERSEY AND NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA DURING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL END BY MIDNIGHT WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

So, Thursday snow day? Maybe?

UPDATE (12:39 a.m.)

Don’t give up hope yet, Princeton. The state’s climatologist, David Robison, tells the Star-Ledger that while only three to eighth inches are projected to fall by tomorrow morning, there will be a “more intense session” in the afternoon. And he gives us the strongest argument for a snow day yet:

“It would behoove one to think twice before venturing out (Wednesday) out of fear of not getting back home,” he said. “This looks to be the most significant statewide event of the season.”

AW

UPDATE (10:30 p.m.)

Alright, we don’t want to rain on any parades that have kicked off since we posted this but… It now looks like the chances of a snow day are slimming.

University emails to faculty are now suggesting the weather won’t be bad enough to call classes off. Sorry guys!

Of course, this is a developing story, so we’ll keep you updated with anymore news we managed to pick up…

Stay tuned to Snow Day? 2010.

ORIGINAL POST:

We have it on good information (well, that’s open to interpretation) that tomorrow is going to be…

Get ready for it…

A SNOW DAY.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in seven years, Princeton will be closed due to heavy precipitation.*

Get your sleds out. Don your mittens. Warm up some spiked cider. It’s time to play.

Or sleep, whatever.

*Okay, technically we won’t be absolutely sure until around 4 A.M., but let’s all cross our fingers. And don’t blame us if we turn out wrong – we’re not controlling the weather machine!

(image source: blogs.princeton.edu/aspire)