While this wasn’t the first snowfall in Bloomington this year, nothing could’ve prepared the city for the winter storm that took place Monday.
The snow started Monday afternoon, with around 2 inches coming down every hour until about midnight when it finally stopped. The snowfall totaled up to about 10 inches in Monroe County.
The piles of snow and wind chills below zero forced the closure of businesses, schools and government buildings Tuesday. Among these closures was the COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Monroe County Convention Center.
The COVID-19 vaccination site was one of 70 closed across the state, prompting mass rescheduling of appointments for vaccines.
While IU’s campus remained open Monday, Provost Lauren Robel encouraged faculty and staff to work remotely in an email.
“Faculty teaching in-person classes may switch to teaching online on Monday, Feb. 15 to avoid the adverse weather conditions and should advise students about whether your class will meet in-person or online,” Robel said in the email.
But many students found ways to have fun in the snow Monday and on the first wellness day of the semester Tuesday.
“It’s a little bit more than what I was wanting, but it’s still fun being out here and people trying to throw events like snowball fights are fun, too,” IU freshman Henry Wilhite said.
Wilhite and his friend Ashwin Ramesh said it was cool to walk around in the snow storm because of how beautiful IU’s campus is.
“We decided to go check out Dunn Woods to see how it would look in the snow,” Ramesh said. “We came here at the start of the fall when it was like the fall colors, so we just want to see the seasons.”
Others weren’t as prepared for the snow. Henry Butler, 17, was visiting his older brother at IU from Alabama during his Mardi Gras break. He came to Bloomington with a pair of tennis shoes, but those weren’t going to cut in the snow. So, Butler had to go out and buy a pair of boots.
“This is a lot different than anything ever,” Butler said. “It’s just really surprising. I wasn’t expecting it at all.”
Monroe County officials declared the highest level of travel advisory — a code red, or a winter warning. This means that they encouraged everyone to stay home. The advisory was declared at 4:30 a.m. Monday and didn’t end until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Despite the advisory, there were still cars on the road Monday and Tuesday.
Before they could leave, many had to dig their cars out of the layers of snow they were buried under — using anything comparable to a shovel.
But once they made it out, many of the cars that ventured out into the winter storm got stuck in the snow. Kind strangers around the city stopped to help others push their cars out of the snow.