By CHRISTOPHER SURPRENANT
Managing Editor
Snow fell hard over Albany—and all over New York and the rest of the country, for that matter. Saint Rose students were granted a half-day this past Thursday, and yet another snow day on Friday. The day off, however, was not necessarily full of sledding and snowball fights.
For many students, the snow meant sleeping in and staying in the dining hall all day, yet many others had other commitments that required them to venture off campus. Between jobs and student teaching, the mountains of snow made any sort of travel difficult.
“I had to get up earlier to clean off my car to go and teach lessons at TOAST [Thomas O’Brien Academy Science and Technology] and would manage to get my dress pants and such wet, which was always unbearable to wait to dry during the day especially when it got into my socks, nothing worse than cold wet feet,” said David Mellan, a senior and resident assistant studying childhood and special education at the College.
Although it was hard enough to navigate the tundra on campus, off-campus students had just as many difficulties.
“Albany needs to plow the side roads near Saint Rose more. It took me 20 minutes to get off of my street with no traffic, just snow. That was after spending an hour shoveling my car out,” said Kayla Furnia.
The snow prompted the City of Albany to issue a snow emergency effective from the 14 to the 15 for snow removal. During the first 24 hours, all cars needed to be parked on the even side of the street. Starting at 8 p.m. the following Saturday, cars moved to the opposite side to complete the process. The College also issued a similar alert, stating snow removal dates, requiring students to move their vehicles from resident lots to other areas around campus.
Others across the state were also affected. Alumna Regina Iannizzotto of Staten Island met difficulties similar to Furnia and Mellan. Arriving at the school where she teaches, Iannizzotto was met with huge swamps of ice and limited parking, a common feature at both of her other jobs. However, the weather had a better outcome for her weekend plans. “I did get two days off to spend watching movies with a friend, so positivity?” she joked.
While some were working, some were traveling for the Valentine’s Day holiday. Meghan O’Connor, on her way to visit her boyfriend at Saint Rose, played the waiting game with train travel.
“I was stuck in Penn station waiting for my train not even knowing if I would get to Albany or not. When they finally said that it would arrive at 2:30, I got on the train to arrive in Albany around 5:00,” O’Connor said. As of Sunday, O’Connor’s train was further delayed because of the inclement weather affecting the tracks.
While a pain, the delays, the shoveling, slipping, and swerving are not new experiences for New Yorkers. On average, Albany receives upward of 60 inches of snow annually and is usually walloped by Mother Nature’s nor’easters. Between February 13 and 14, 18-24 inches of powder flurried across the Capital District in addition to last week’s 10 inches. Within two weeks, Albany has been hit with almost half of its annual snowfall totals.
Over in Central New York, the snow fell just as hard. Teacher Cindy Sabonis got in an accidental snowball fight. “I made the mistake of walking past someone who was using their snowblower and got a face full of snow, some of which got caught between my glasses and my face,” she said.
While some found the lighter side of a New York winter, others were tired of the complaining. Cars were buried and streets were nonexistent, but such is life in the northeast. Olivia Deck, a former Saint Rose student, works as a waitress half an hour from her home in New Hartford, NY. However, being raised in a snowy state, Deck felt prepared to brave the storm.
I had no trouble getting to work because I leave early. Obviously though, there are people who don’t know how to drive, but you just have to be careful. [The weather] isn’t the end,” she said.
Although this particular storm caused a lot of inconveniences for many, it hasn’t been the first bout of terrible weather in New York, and it certainly won’t be the last. Otto Isenberg of New York Mills had a mellow response to the recent polar problem. “It snowed, life has continued, as life should in New York,” said Isenberg.
