When a winter storm hits campus, operations are altered — classes are cancelled, dining hours are shifted and programs around campus shut down. Students rush to prepare for the days stuck inside with hoards of snacks and entertainment. Behind the scenes, however, University of Richmond staff operate swiftly to keep the campus running.
This past weekend, a winter storm of snow and ice that many news outlets called “historic” swept through the nation, crossing from Texas and Utah to Maine and beyond. In Richmond, snow, sleet and freezing rain coated the streets as temperatures ranged from the high teens to the lower 20s, and Gov. Abigail Spanberger declared a state of emergency on Thursday, Jan. 22.
Students and Richmond locals stocked up on food, water and necessities before the weather closed down campus and much of the city. Shoppers reported crowded stores with a low stock of basics like water, milk and bread.
“We went to Trader Joe’s Thursday afternoon, about 3:15 p.m., and the entire parking lot was full,” sophomore Eden Burrell said. “There were no jugs [of water], no bottles, no nothing. And then all the bread was pretty much gone.”…