By JACKSON WANG
Executive Editor
Punxsutawney Phil was right when he didn’t see his shadow last week because winter is certainly still upon us.
The first snow storm of the spring semester caused Gov. Andrew Cuomo to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday. The storm, which slowly moved across the Midwest into the Northeast last week, dropped about 10 inches of snow in Albany, according to the National Weather Service.
Meteorologist Steven DiRienzo said snow began to fall at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, causing a messy morning commute. The storm slowly moved across the Northeast, while dropping snow all over New York for several hours. DiRienzo said the snow tapered off around 8 p.m. Wednesday night, leading a tough evening commute as well.
The National Weather Service forecasted about eight to 14 inches of snow in the Capital Region, which was enough to shut down the Saint Rose campus as classes and offices were closed on Wednesday.
And with the storm moving at a steady pace across Albany, it made keeping The College of Saint Rose clear of snow a little difficult. John Bryant, assistant vice president of facilities, said his crew started shoveling and plowing snow at 4 a.m. on Wednesday.
“It’s going pretty good,” said Bryant, when asked about the snow clearing process. “I think we’re staying ahead of [the storm].”
Bryant said many of his employees, who were supposed to be off, came in to help out. He had about 20 shovelers and 10 equipment operators working at once on Wednesday.
“We got a good turnout,” Bryant said.
Besides keeping up with the storm, Bryant said clearing snow from parking lots is also very difficult because of cars. He said canceling class and closing offices help, but some lots, like Centennial, are still filled with vehicles. That also means the snow clearing process will take a few more days as they wait for cars to be removed from parking lots.
“When the cars are relocated, we clear the lots,” Bryant said.
Bryant also said since the campus is very well developed, piling the snow can also be an issue as spaces could be limited. But since there hasn’t been much snow yet this year, they are not concerned at the moment.
“This is not out of the ordinary,” said Bryant, talking about the storm. “We expected this.”
The snow also caused the Golden Knights men’s and women’s basketball games at American International College to be moved to Thursday, instead of Wednesday.
But the storm wasn’t bad news for everyone. The snow brought good business to Paesan’s Pizza on Ontario Street.
“The worser the weather, the busier we are,” Owner Vinnie Scavil said.
Even with the snow falling steadily all day Wednesday, his pizza shop was still delivering, but customers had to wait about an hour to receive their order.
“We’re always well prepared for the day,” Scavil said.
But not all business was skyrocketing due to the storm. Tierra Coffee Roasters saw a small decline because of the snow.
“It’s a little slower,” Manager Ron Grieco said. “A lot of people are just walking by.”
Most of their regulars, who would stop in to get coffee for the day before work, took the day off Wednesday. So that’s why Grieco says it’s normal for the coffee shop to see a small drop in sales when a snow storm hits.
“It’s always a little slower, especially in the morning,” Grieco said.
Albany declared its second snow emergency of the year on Thursday, asking cars to be park ed on the even side on that night, and then switch over to the odd side on Friday night. But while Wednesday’s storm dropped several inches, about just one inch of snow fell on Sunday.
Temperatures are expected to rise back up into the 30s this week.
