Don’t put your winter clothes in storage just yet. Although temperatures in Auburn reached 70 degrees last week, yesterday Mother Nature proved winter it wasn’t quite over. Auburn residents woke up to 2 inches of snow on Sunday, Mar. 1. The snow provided fun for some Auburn University students, but it also disrupted plans for others.

Auburn University junior, Kelly Crawford, talks about her reaction to seeing the snow and what she did on Sunday.

“My day started at 8 in the morning when I looked out my window and saw all the snow,” says Crawford. “I freaked. I ran around my house and woke up all my roommates. I had heard that it was suppose to snow sometime this weekend, but I didn’t believe it because I wore shorts all last week. I had a snowball fight with my roommates and my neighbors, and then we all went and drove around campus to see everyone playing and take pictures.”

According to the Weather Channel, yesterday was “one of the top five snowiest days in Georgia history.” The South was not the only place that saw snow from this storm. Reaching from the local area yesterday through Maine today, this giant storm has caused more than just snowball fights. Many travel plans were disrupted due to closed roads and cancelled flights.

Courtney Brannan, an Auburn University sophomore, has a frustrating story of how the storm changed her plans. Brannan went home to Virginia on Friday, Feb. 27, to visit family. Her flight was scheduled to depart Richmond, Va., Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, her flight, along with many others, was cancelled.

“All I could think was, ‘Oh my gosh, I have got to get back for my midterms coming up,’” says Brannan.

Brannan has midterm exams later in the week and she was not worried about missing them, but she was worried about missing the reviews for the exams.

Her family called a private airline hoping to schedule a flight for the evening. It would have been possible for Brannan to take a private plane, but at nearly $7,000 her family opted not to purchase the ticket. Finally, her mother agreed to make the nine-hour drive through the storm to get Brannan back by late Sunday night.

“I was really worried about the drive, and for good reason,” says Brannan. “About every 5 miles we would see a car in a ditch or in a wreck. It was really scary, and we only made it half way before we had to stop for the night because the roads were too bad.”

Brannan and her mother were forced to stay the night in Charlotte, NC, because the roads were too icy to drive on. Luckily, Brannan will reach Auburn sometime this afternoon.

Last night through e-mail, Johnny Green, dean of students, kept AU students informed on whether or not the university would be open today. Ultimately there was no need to cancel classes, but Green did provide options for students, like Brannan, who could not make it back to Auburn.

“If you are out of town and in an area where the weather may be preventing you from returning to Auburn by tonight or for classes tomorrow, please email your professors AND be sure to send me some type of note to let me know where you are so that I can help with an excuse, if necessary, in any way that I can,” stated Green in his email. “For example, if you end up at a hotel out of town, keep a copy of the bill, etc.”

Ironically, last week (Feb. 23 to 27) was “Alabama Severe Weather Awareness Week.” Auburn University has a Web page dedicated to this week. Visit this page for information on what to do in any event of severe weather.


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