Record snow gives students time to play, sleep for a day

The snowy weather shut down businesses and schools, but left behind breathtaking scenes through out Tyler. The record breaking snow gave many a free day to go out and enjoy the weather. Photo by Clay Ihlo.

Heavy snowfall covered Tyler last week leaving behind more than 6 inches of snow. The University cancelled night classes Thursday and all classes on Friday. However, this did not keep students from being on campus. They built snowmen and played in the snow both days.

All the activity kept the University Police Department busy with noise complaints and snowmen duty. Various sources reported several snowmen had to be destroyed because of the sexually explicit nature in which they were created. Mounds of snow blocking pathways also had to be removed.

Overnight the campus transformed into a winter fun land. Friday morning students using everything from laundry baskets to boogie boards found various hills on campus to race down. The popular hills were behind the Cowan Center and by the tennis courts.

Word of mouth spread the news of a snowball fight on the practice soccer field where students pounded each other with wet snow. On Friday groups of people built snowmen of all sizes around campus. Close to a seven-foot snowman wearing a UT T-shirt stood between the Harrington Patriot Center and the new University Center.

Others popped up in front of the Administration Building, the Hudnall-Pirtle-Roosth Building and Harvey Lake. Some unique snowman accessories included a traffic cone hat, pine needle necklaces and spiked grass hair.

Men and women’s Thursday basketball games against UT-Dallas moved to Monday Feb. 15 due to the winter weather. Saturday games against Ozarks played as scheduled. The softball team practiced indoors at the Harrington Patriot Center Friday afternoon because of snow on the field.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area received 12.5 inches of snowfall, breaking its single-day record of 12.1 inches in 1962 according to the National Weather Service. Dallanews.com reported that American Airlines canceled 478 flights on Thursday.

KTBB reported that 30,000 Oncor customers lost power on Thursday and early Friday.