A storm that can only be described as biblical hit Milwaukee Tuesday night, giving Marquette students their first snow day in three years.
The storm, affectionately nicknamed “Snowpocalypse,” “Thundersnow” and “Snowmageddon” among others, had its way with campus, shutting it down from 4 p.m. Tuesday until Thursday morning. A total 18 inches of snow struck Milwaukee during the storm, according to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Governor Scott Walker declared a state of emergency for southeastern Wisconsin on Tuesday and closed all government buildings Wednesday.
“It was wild,” said Morgan Rossi, a sophomore in the College of Communication. “I have never seen anything like it. People were stumbling through the streets, barely able to see two feet in front of them.”
Most students were able to spend the night raging at dance parties or snuggled up watching TV, but a large portion of them were without power for roughly an hour.
WE Energies spokesperson Brian Manthey said the power outage was due to galloping conductors. He said this basically means the high winds caused some of the power lines to bang together, cutting power.
“The areas that were affected were between 16th and 12th streets and then north of Wells Street, so Highland, Kilbourn and State were also where some of the calls came in from,” Manthey said.
In all, the power outage lasted 55 minutes and affected 830 customers, mostly in the Marquette area.
Students were frustrated by the outage because it shut down all power, including Internet and heating, but were grateful it lasted less than an hour.
“The power went out for about an hour, and Global Village gathered in the hallway with candles,” said Missy Hren, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences and a resident on the Global Village floor in Campus Town West. “I was going to go to the gym, but the second I was walking out the door, the power went back on. That was a sign I didn’t need to go work out.”
The storm stretched over hundreds of miles and affected all forms of transportation. One student, Katelyn Bleach, a junior in the College of Engineering and Campus Town West resident, commutes to Chicago every day for her co-op, and she was frustrated with the conditions.
“I wasn’t here during the power outage,” Bleach said. “I was on a train back from Chicago that took 4 1/2 hours to get to Milwaukee.”