The first time was a novelty, the second time was a curiosity and the third time was an inconvenience.
It seemed as if the “school closure due to snow” had gone from being an irregularity to the norm as the days started to add up. However, not all colleges seemed bothered by the weather: UW shrugged off the weather, but SCC closed its doors for almost the entire endeavor.
Appearances can be deceptive: SCC wasn’t closed due to the snow, but because of the presence of black ice — which often can be more hazardous.
A clear indication of just how bad things got was on Feb. 13, when the city of Shoreline lent the campus a hand. The city sent its plows to get rid of any obstacles between the “Exit Only” sign and the main gate.
The city also brought in sand and de-icer and spread it wherever needed. The night the alert was given, school was scheduled to be open the next day albeit with a late start. Nevertheless, the ice returned, freezing over the cleared roads.
It got so bad that at one point during the night three metro buses got stuck on the campus bus loop because they couldn’t make it up the gentle incline next to the 1300 Building. Security had to close off Innis Arden Way in order to give buses space to back out.
This move frustrated students and teachers to no end. SCC student Shotaroh Yanagawa had made his way to campus on Thursday, Feb. 14, in the hopes of attending class after almost two weeks of school closures, only to be greeted by locked campus doors.
Yanagawa said that most of the snow had melted and only some areas remained icy, but his schoolwork still remained affected.
That Feb. 14 late start was changed into a school closure overnight, leaving many students and a number of teachers irritated with the sudden change. Ultimately the weather relented, turning the hazardous ice into water. Campus finally reopened the next day.
It appears as if the snowpocalypse is now firmly behind us with the latest menace of snow predicted for Feb. 23 and 24 being empty threats, but if it does snow again, maybe SCC will be more prepared.
