Students and Abilenians experienced their first wintery weather of the year early Monday morning when an inch of snow blanketed the city.
ACU as well as Abilene and Wylie ISD held classes as planned despite many area schools posting delayed starts to promote safe travel for parents and buses. Although much of the snow stayed through the next day, roads were already clear by Monday morning, allowing students to drive to campus.
Many students displayed disappointment in finding out that classes would continue as usual, but some were happy with the decision.
“I’m actually kind of glad,” said Lezli Boren, senior math education major from Levelland. “It sounds really nerdy, but I have way too much to do. It would not get done if I was stuck at home. I would be in my pajamas watching movies and not doing homework.”
Temperatures dropped in the weeks leading up to Monday’s snowfall. A nighttime low of 28 degrees helped Abilene broke the daily snowfall previously set on Dec 5, 1950 when the city received 0.2 inches.
Although this first storm comes more than a month earlier than last year, it was also not the earliest, since snow feel over 70 years ago on Nov 7. It was also nowhere near the most snow Abilene has seen, which came in 1996 when the city received nearly 10 inches.
Most students love the rare event that is a snow day, but some students, used to the hot and dry climate, are not a fan of the wintery weather. Zach Miller, freshman biochemistry major from Boerne, is one of those students.
“I do not like having cold and wet feet all the time,” said Miller, “so I would rather it not snow.”
For many students who hail from Texas, snow days are few and far between. But for some of ACU’s out-of-state students, Monday’s weather felt a little bit like usual winter weather of home. What is unusual to Texans is quite normal for Brandon Bolden, senior counseling psychology major from Saint Louis.
“The same amount of snow in Missouri and we would still be in school,” said Bolden. “Since we have salt trucks it would literally take a blizzard all night to keep us out of school.”
Temperatures are expected to rise towards the end of the week with weekend highs in the high 40’s and low 50’s.
