Students Take Advantage of a Snow Day in D.C. -

By Zachary Lichter

As the Catholic University of America (CUA) was looking forward to a day off on January 15 of this year because of the federal holiday, they woke up to a pleasant surprise: a blanket of snow covering all of campus.

Washington, D.C. received over three inches of snow for the first time in over two years. The D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area was two days away from keeping its two-year streak when Mother Nature decided she had other plans with this snowstorm.

The snow affected the DMV area, with 2.5 to 4 inches falling. Many of the roads were covered in snow, making it dangerous for commuters to go to work and for kids to go to school. The county school districts in the DMV area were either closed or on a two-hour delay.

As for CUA, an email that went out from CUA Communications at 12:34 a.m. on January 16 said that the campus wouldn’t open until 10:00 a.m. Classes that day before 10:00 a.m. were shifted to Zoom or canceled entirely depending on the professor.

Capital Weather Gang incorrectly forecasted that the DMV area would get one to two inches on the morning of January 14. Later that evening, they forecasted that the DMV area might get two to four inches of snow. Either way, it was a pleasant surprise for the students at CUA.

Many students went outside to make snow angels, sledding, or even having snowball fights.

Christopher Mastoros, a sophomore nursing major, shared how he and his friends had fun in the snow.

“On Monday night, my friends and I went up to the hill next to Garvey Hall and had a huge snowball fight and went body-sledding down the hill,” Mastoros said. “A bunch of my fellow classmates were also there and it was super cool seeing so many people enjoying themselves playing in the snow. Later that night, my friends had a football game on the Opus lawn. It was a super cool experience.”

Adam Cady, a sophomore philosophy major and Spanish studies minor, said the snow made him forget classes and just have fun outside.

“I felt like a child again as I received the email that it was a snow day,” Cady said. “It brings out the child in everyone and illuminates that youthful part of each one of us which hides deeper in the depths of our hearts the older we become.”

The snow continued to stay on the ground all week, with temperatures dipping into the mid-20s.