A.J. Hernandez

It’s likely that you noticed the breeze pick up and an excess of snow flurries this past weekend.  And you might have heard the name of your favorite little clownfish thrown around more than usual.  Well, folks, that was the work of Nemo, blizzard 2013.

The superstorm began in the Midwest this past Thursday and made its way to the east coast; it hit Boston on Friday morning and stayed with us until Saturday afternoon.  Dubbed “snopocalypse” and “snowmageddon,” Nemo provided over two feet of snow in its most active areas and winds hit more than forty miles per hour in Boston.

The blizzard was named by The Weather Channel because of its potential for high impact.  Although Nemo means “nobody” in Latin and “from the valley” in Greek, it seems the only reference people were making was to the highly adored title character from Disney/Pixar’s 2003 film, Finding Nemo.  With a spike in Nemo related memes, clever Facebook statuses about finding Nemo, and Nemo’s own Twitter account, it seems as though The Weather Channel should have anticipated Boston College’s witticism.

Cheers rang throughout campus as the announcement that Boston College would be closed on Friday finally reached students at 9:42 PM this past Thursday evening, hours after Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick directed all public schools to be closed.  On Friday morning, students were woken at 9:30 AM to the sound of sirens and a Lower-wide announcement that all cars parked in outdoor lots had to be moved to the parking garage or they would be towed.

The governor also put into place the first travel ban since 1978 and BC shuttles stopped at noon on Friday.  The governor went so far as to declare a state of emergency and warned against “extremely dangerous conditions.”  Despite the closing of the school, faculty maintained that the dining halls would remain open, even in the event of a power outage.  When beloved Lower Live employee Modesta was asked if she was worried about the storm, she replied, “not much” with her usual smile.

It seems BC students shared a similar sentiment as the campus quickly became ornamented with snowmen, snow angels, and igloos.  Brighton campus, for once, became a hot spot as students realized its appealing sledding hill.  And, although BC classes were cancelled on Friday for safety reasons, students were still able to make their merry way to the Mods on Friday night.  While music blared through the afternoon and evening, the Mod streets quickly became plowed into paths by the heavy foot traffic.

Nevertheless, the fury of the storm that raged our campus for more than twenty-four hours should not be undermined.  Faculty, grounds workers, and safety personnel worked around the clock to ensure our protection against the elements by keeping us fed, clearing the walkways, and rescheduling events, among much more.

On Friday morning, an unnamed BCPD officer was asked about his thoughts on the upcoming storm and he responded simply, “It’s going to be a big storm – the biggest in years.”  Yet, when he was asked about potential casualties he shook his head, pointed to his fellow officers and said, “They’ve got it under control.  It’s well planned out.”  A great big thank you goes out to everyone who helped keep Boston College safe this past weekend. Thankfully, we can all say that we survived snowmageddon.