U-M cancels classes tomorrow and Thursday
Ridiculous.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
Ridiculous that they are canceling classes or ridiculous that it could get to -40 wind chill?
January 29th, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
Iowa canceled classes starting this afternoon through Thursday. We're going to have wind chills down to -50 and some parts of the state -60 thanks to all the farm land (not as many trees/natural windbreaks).
It's going to be colder here tomorrow than in Alaska.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:34 PM ^
Same story in Chicago. Loyola, UChicago, Northwestern, and DePaul. It's going to be colder than both Everest and Siberia, apparently.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:51 PM ^
You people don't know cold.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
What do you mean "you people"?
January 29th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
anyone not from siberia
January 29th, 2019 at 9:07 PM ^
If I lived there I would not be opposed to assimilating.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:51 PM ^
Easy for you to say. You're from Siberia.
January 29th, 2019 at 5:05 PM ^
Putin was born in St. Petersburg (Leningrad) not Siberia.
January 29th, 2019 at 5:08 PM ^
(cough)...soon to be renamed...(cough)
January 29th, 2019 at 9:25 PM ^
Mom looks like someone you don’t want disagree with.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^
When I was a kid . . . blah, blah, blah.
Get off my lawn.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:59 PM ^
Lawn is frozen solid and covered with snow right now.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
Get off my tundra.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:54 PM ^
I was actually concerned they might postpone tonight's bball game. I think Western postponed theirs.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:54 PM ^
I'm sorry but what's ridiculous about not wanting 40,000 students, faculty, and staff walking around outside from class to class when the wind chill is going to be between -25 and -40. That's cold enough to cause the onset of frostbite to exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes. It would be ridiculous not to cancel classes. I don't know if this is a schtick or if you're serious but either way please keep your mouth shut.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
For real, I was there from 2000-2004 and it seemed like it was university policy to never cancel classes no matter what. This obviously made going to class miserable (and dangerous) and seriously made me hate my experience there during my freshman year. The urban legend was that some punk ass law student years ago had sued the school after a snow day because the U was denying the educational services he was paying for (don't know if that's true or not but it wouldn't surprise me if it was). I'm glad to see they've come to their senses.
But, will the game tonight be canceled?
January 29th, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
Michigan had something like a 36 year streak of not canceling classes and as that grew so did the reluctance to cancel.
Game is still on for tonight.
January 29th, 2019 at 9:52 PM ^
I was a freshman in 2014 when Michigan cancelled classes for the first time in 36 years. We couldn't believe it at the time. Though of course students didn't stay in to stay warm, lot of partying that night.
January 29th, 2019 at 5:05 PM ^
I was there from 1996-2000 and am 99.9% sure not one day was cancelled - and for us engineers getting to North campus could be a doozy some days.
January 29th, 2019 at 5:55 PM ^
I was there about the same time and remember that urban legend. Pretty sure the Daily did an article at some point where they looked into if there was any truth to it and found no evidence that had ever happened. The reality was the University thought that because most their students walked to class anyways there was no need to cancel.
January 29th, 2019 at 9:53 PM ^
That logic makes sense for snow days. Though when it comes to arctic cold temperatures, the fact that most students walk to class would make it a big need to cancel.
January 29th, 2019 at 11:46 PM ^
I was at UM from Fall 81 thru Fall 85 - remember this story well, even as a frosh. The story is the Blizzard of 1978, which was a super nasty historic storm that shutdown the state, caused UM to cancel classes. Yes, the rumor (maybe true) was that a law student or group of students sued for a "refund" for the missed day or two.
The winter of 1981-82 was not only super cold but record snow for the time. Luckily I was in South Quad and had all my classes on main campus. That winter, the Chargers played at Cincy for the AFC Championship in -59 below wind chill (-50 by the new formula). We all knew as students there was no way class would ever be cancelled, thanks to the lawsuit or threat thereof.
Some of the laws have been reformed to prevent BS like what happened in 1978, so glad to see safety is not compromised.
That said, would have been quite trashed by this time of night if I had been a student at the OSU game knowing classes were cancelled.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:18 PM ^
I agree Hei2man. But I bet those same students are willing to brave the cold for the bars...
January 29th, 2019 at 4:37 PM ^
Stepping aside from individual types of going out (I imagine my local mall is packed today), there's a difference between individuals making a voluntarily choice to endure the risk and difficulty of potentially dangerous weather, and an institution with 40,000 students holding normal operations that may compel some of those students to endure dangerous conditions that they are neither prepared for nor eager to encounter.
If 37,970 students are perfectly fine with the weather and would all go out to restaurants and shopping centers if there is no class, and 30 people would not do so and lack the proper clothing but go out anyway because they don't want to miss a key lecture, and those 30 people get serious frostbite and/or hypothermia, that's a big news story and everyone is rightly angry at the administration for exposing those 30 to danger.
I imagine that there are more than 30 people who will want to reduce their exposure to this weather in Ann Arbor.
January 29th, 2019 at 5:10 PM ^
It’s never cold when you’re smashed and so it’s not dangerous.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:19 PM ^
I think he was being sarcastic given his "Putin" persona. Something that Putin would say.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:26 PM ^
Putin opens his cabinet doors under the sinks at night.
Gotta keep that air circulating!
January 29th, 2019 at 5:01 PM ^
You have a cabinet? Seem to me you just have a Board of Flunkies. You keep them out in the cold, right?
January 29th, 2019 at 5:06 PM ^
I make my flunkies do stupid pet tricks...
January 29th, 2019 at 3:54 PM ^
Kids these days just don't know how to wear proper hats, gloves, and galoshes.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
in my day we had Tauntauns
January 29th, 2019 at 4:18 PM ^
When I was at Michigan, I dated a girl with a nice set of Tauntauns.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:27 PM ^
But how did she smell?
January 29th, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^
Doesn't matter, had sex.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^
better on the outside, apparently
January 29th, 2019 at 5:00 PM ^
Yeah, but that was a long time ago. Also in a galaxy far, far away.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:54 PM ^
Ahhh the fond memories of waiting for the bus to/from north campus
January 29th, 2019 at 3:54 PM ^
That doesn't seem ridiculous to me. It is pretty extreme weather.
Penn State, my alma mater - last week they closed campus on a day where it was 40 in the morning, falling to 25 in the afternoon behind a cold front, with 1-2 inches of total snow expected. In other words: it was a fairly normal January day. Anyway, THAT was ridiculous.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:36 PM ^
I always knew Penn State was a bunch of pansies.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
Times have changed --- I was at Penn State during the January 1994 cold snap. This was a very big cold snap --- set all-time record lows that still stand for Columbus, Akron and Pittsburgh.
Harrisburg (the Pennsylvania state government) put the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania into emergency operations - all non-essential state organizations needed to close to preserve fuel and such.
Penn State (Joab Thomas, the President before Spanier) actually defied the PA governor and said NO, we're staying open. So, off to class I went.
January 29th, 2019 at 3:55 PM ^
As long as tonight's game is on, I'm fine. I will be there. Screw OSU!
January 29th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
Excepting Health System staff. We still have to work.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^
Such a shame, having to still save lives when it's cold enough to induce frostbite in minutes?
January 29th, 2019 at 4:16 PM ^
I’m on the supply side of things so no saving of lives here.
I’m not going to be outside for more than a minute at a time anyways. Nowhere near long enough to freeze. Not a big deal to be honest.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^
Impressively, wind chills are still lower than -40 through most of the state in the afternoon. It's cold out there.
Beautiful, too. There was lake effect dusting most of the day yesterday, drifting around, coating most roads with some snow, blowing through the air. No clouds, of course. Just bright sun, and bitterly cold temps, and windswept vistas.
Magnificent desolation.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:30 PM ^
We're not a bank, Jerry.
January 29th, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^
Hotel, we're Minnesotans here, we know cold. But, I mean...