The first day of the spring 2024 semester — Jan. 16 — aligned with New York City’s heaviest snowfall in nearly two years. Cars, sidewalks and rooftops were adorned with a light dusting of pillowy white snowflakes as students and staff trekked to Fordham’s campuses on a chilly Tuesday morning.
Jason Bonner, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’25, hails from Omaha, Nebraska, and is no stranger to snowy streets. While at home, where he spent time with family and friends during the break, the midwestern state saw several inches of snow. After touching back down in New York, Bonner shared a mixture of happiness about the snowfall and apprehension that 1.7 inches was considered record-breaking in a northeastern city famous for snow storms.
“I moved to New York always having heard about nor’easters and all the big snows, and it just hasn’t snowed over the past few years,” he said. “I feel happy that it’s snowing, but it also reminds me of how little it snowed in the past few years, which kind of makes me sad.”
Although the snow barely grazed two inches, Tuesday’s moderate snowfall was the largest accumulation since Feb. 13, 2022, when 1.6 inches fell in Central Park in a single day. The park usually experiences approximately 24 inches of snow across the season.
An unusually warm winter in 2023 brought only 2.3 inches of snow throughout all of winter, the smallest recorded since 1869, according to the Times. Previously, the city’s longest streak without considerable snowfall was 400 days, which came to a close on March 21, 1998.
In light of the anticipated snowfall and sleet-like conditions, the university delayed operations until 10 a.m. on Jan. 16, canceling all classes prior to that time. Ram Vans also operated under a delayed schedule, with the first vans leaving the Rose Hill campus at 8 a.m. instead of 6:15 a.m. Robert Fitzer, associate vice president of Public Safety, communicated these disruptions in an email to the campus community, where he also cautioned students that intercampus transit may take longer than usual.
“You do have to take some extra time to commute, so my heart definitely goes out to our commuter students who had to worry about that more than I had to.”
Aaryan Sharma, Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill ’24 and a native of Tampa, Florida, expressed that while he resides close to the Rose Hill campus, the effects of the snowfall, such as a buildup of ice on the sidewalks, made his commute to class difficult.
Sharma said she wished the university had enacted more stringent measures to mitigate any dangerous conditions. Black ice in front of the entrance to Keating Hall made it difficult for some students, who he claimed were struggling to walk.
“While I think Fordham does a passable job at cleaning up the ice and ensuring students can get to class safely, there definitely could be more initiative shown,” he said. “For example, it should be more of a priority to actually remove all the black ice on the rose hill campus whenever it crops up instead of waiting until it becomes an active hazard.”
“It was kind of a nice way to welcome everyone back to the city on the first day of class.”
For students who reside on campus at Lincoln Center, the icy sidewalks posed no problems to their commute.
“I don’t have any complaints in terms of how the school handled the snow. Everything was super accessible and wasn’t something I had to worry about when I was leaving campus or coming back from work,” Megan Richardson, FCLC ’24, said. “You do have to take some extra time to commute, so my heart definitely goes out to our commuter students who had to worry about that more than I had to.”
Richardson, who is familiar with white winters as a Long Islander, was delighted to wake up to Tuesday’s flurries. “I still get so excited everytime it just starts to snow whether it’s flurries or an accumulation like this, because it’s been a very long time,” she said.
She took advantage of the snowy weather and enjoyed an afternoon stroll in Central Park. This semester, her suite welcomed two new students to their apartment in McMahon Hall; the group used the snowfall as an opportunity for bonding activities outside.
“We got to enjoy the snow while also getting to know each other, which was really nice, I had a really great time doing that,” Richardson said. “It was kind of a nice way to welcome everyone back to the city on the first day of class.”
The weather is expected to be warmer the week of Jan. 21, with temperatures fluctuating between the 30s and high 50s, offering respite from the sub-freezing conditions that accompanied the first week of classes.
