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UNC System Weathers Winter Woes
Eleven UNC-System schools
closed Tuesday, following
the first night of significant
snowfall around the state.
By Kimberly Grabiner
Staff Writer
Snowballs flew, cafeteria trays
became make-shift sleds, snowmen were
bom and streakers came out in full force
on UNC campuses after chancellors
across the state canceled classes for
record-breaking snowfall.
Eleven UNC-system schools closed
Tuesday after a major storm left treach
erous conditions. Seven remained
closed Wednesday.
UNC-Ghapel Hill, N.C. State and
N.C. Central Universities were the onlv
schools that did not open Thursday.
UNC-Wilmington and East Carolina
University opened on a two-hour delay.
N.C. Central University remained
closed Friday, while UNC-CH and
State planned to open on a delay.
UNC General Administration
remained in contact with the system
Board to Call for Delayed UNC Elections
By Kim Minegh
Assistant University Editor
After blizzard conditions closed
UNC for three consecutive days, offi
cials are planning on delaying upcoming
student elections.
The elections, which were originally
scheduled for Feb. 8, have now been
tentatively planned for Feb. 15, said
Elections Board Chairwoman Catherine
Yates.
Yates will officially appear before
Student Congress on Tuesday to request
a postponement in the elections process.
Flections would be pushed back to
give candidates sufficient time to cam
paign, Yates said.
N.C. Forecasters Keep Watchful Eye on sth Storm
Associated Press ' : 1/1 ' :
RALEIGH - Hurricanes are one
thing. But full-blown snowstorms?
North Carolinians, becoming used to
dealing with the sloppy cleanup after the
wind and rain of hurricanes, were not
prepared for the kind of paralysis
brought by 2 feet of snow that still left
thousands without power Thursday.
“It’s far worse than any hurricane
we’ve had,” said Moore County
Manager David McNeill.
And forecasters said a vert' slow thaw
and more precipitation is in sight.
During the next few days, high tern
peratures should hover near freezing,
with lows dipping into the 20s and
teens, slowing any melting of the white
stuff, the National Weather Service
office in Raleigh said.
More moisture is on the way
Saturday and Sunday, but forecasters
GO AWAY!
And spend summer 2000
abroad in
Applications are due
by February 15, 2000
For further information please contact the
UNC-CH Study Abroad Office in 12 Caldwell Hall
(919) 962-7001
abroad@unc.edu
http://www.unc.edu/depts/abroad
NO LATE APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED
schools throughout the storm recovery,
but each school decided independently
whether or not to hold classes, said Jeff
Davies, vice president of finance.
“The chancellors have the best
knowledge to make that decision,” he
said.
Peter Harden, a N.C. State senior
from Charlotte, said some N.C. State
students braved the frozen roads
Tuesday in four
wheel drive vehi
cles with sledders
riding behind on
inflatable tubes.
Two local con
venience stores on
Hillsborough Street
in Raleigh ran out
of beer shortly
after 9 p.m.
Tuesday, leaving
“The chancellors
have the best
knowledge to make
that decision. ”
Jeff Davies
BOG Vice President of Finance
lines of students without alcoholic bev
erages to keep them warm as tempera
tures dropped, Harden said.
He said even the smallest hills
became coveted sites for sledders, as stu
dents searched for doormats, cafeteria
trays and calendars to use as sleds.
“(Tuesday) was pretty wild all day,”
Students cannot
officially begin
campaigning until
after a mandatory
elections meeting
is held.
The mandatory
filing meeting for
candidates previ
ously scheduled
for Tuesday will
now convene at a later time depending
on weather conditions, Yates said.
Students intending to run in the Feb.
15 elections are required to attend the
mandatory' filing meeting. Candidates
for student body president must present
petitions with 500 signatures.
said it was not clear whether it would
add rai'rf of snow %' fh’F already 'treach
erous mix.
“Something’s coming,” weather ser
vice Meteorologist Jonathan Blaes said.
“But there are still a lot of question
marks.”
But North Carolina is not the only
Southern state that has seen unusual
snowfall in recent days.
Much of the nation saw snow -and
braced for even more - while still dig
ging out and trying to return to normal
Thursday after the wintry punch that
caught so many people flat-footed ear
lier this week.
A strong disturbance caused snow
from the Texas Panhandle and
Oklahoma into Louisiana, Arkansas and
Mississippi.
In Oklahoma, schools were closed
statewide, meetings postponed and state
employees excused from work.
iHMinter Storm 2000
he said. Students at other system schools
also used the unexpected day off as an
excuse to play in the snow.
Sam Nixon, information specialist for
UNC-Charlotte, said about 2 to 4 inch
es of snow fell on the campus.
Nixon said the school decided to
close after officials determined Monday
evening that it would be too difficult for
students and staff to reach campus
Tuesday.
UNC-C re
opened
Wednesday on a
normal schedule.
But while clean
up crews were at
work Tuesday,
UNC-C students
found various
ways to celebrate
the snow day.
Three females and five males
streaked from an apartment Monday
night, said Ken Hall, a UNC C sopho
more from Maine. He said the frigid stu
dents returned after being pelted with
snowballs.
Although the snow caught some
schools off guard, Appalachian State
Other candidates are required to
show less than 500 signatures, but must
still present petitions.
The meeting was delayed in accor
dance with the Student Code, which
mandates that 12 days separate the filing
meeting and the elections date, Yates
said. Because the filing date was pushed
back, elections had to be delayed as
well.
Anew date for the meeting has not
been announced. “We are waiting to see
what happens,” Yates said. “It depends
on the weather,”
Five candidates have publicly
announced their candidacy for student
body president, one less than previous
ly anticipated.
Some courts also shut down so work
ers could stay safe at home and not have
to traverse icy roads.
Forecasters called for more snow in
central Oklahoma -as much as 10 to 14
inches -and said some roads could
become nearly impassable.
Slipping and sliding, Arkansas resi
dents abandoned their jobs by the thou
sands and tried to make it home as up to
15 inches of snow fell.
“At one time it was coming so thick, it
looked like the world ended 200 yards
from the windows,” said Pati Brown, the
manager of the Mountain Harbor
Resort in Mount Ida, Ark.
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Honor Society Nomination
Process 2000
Help us identify members of the University community who have demonstrated excel
lence that has advanced the University by nominating them for recognition by the Order
of the Golden Fleece, the Order of the Grail-Valkyries. the Order of the Old Well or the
Society of Janus Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary.
Each of the honorary organizations recognizes members for distinct contributions to
campus life. As you prepare your nominations, please carefully consider which honor
ary organization is appropriate for those you nominate. Here are brief descriptions (add
itional information is available on the individual nomination form).
The Order of the Golden Fleece founded in 1903. Recognizes individuals-
AHft students, faculty, staff members and alumni -of demonstrably high character
'll t and who have made some specific long lasting, innovative and extraordinary
" • contributions to the University community.
BThe Order of the Grail-Valkyries Founded in 1920 and 1941. Recognizes stu
dents who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship, leadership, character
and service. The Order continues to challenge its members to make substantial
contributions to the University and communily.
tlhe Order_of the Old Wei! Founded in 1957. Recognizes students of high char
acter who have demonstrated exemplary and generous humanitarian service
and who have served in a capacity such that their service contributions have not
been previously recognized.
Founded in 1957 and 1999. Recognizes students and staff members who have
made outstanding and lasting contributions to the quality of residence hall life,
primarily through programming.
Applications may be picked up from Ihe FPG Student Union Desk or by emailing dernigaw cnrLajunc.edu
Nominations by on
University did not cancel or delay class
es at all, as the campus did not receive
any measurable accumulations.
In preparations for possible snow, fly
ers went up around campus last week,
warning students that judicial action
would be taken if they were caught
throwing snowballs, said Christiejames,
an ASU junior from Charlotte.
But Barbara Day, ASU dean of stu
dents, said she was unaware of the flyers
and that the school’s code did not out
law snowball throwing.
ASU officials are monitoring a snow
storm expected to hit over the weekend.
Jane Nicholson, ASU university news
director, said that although forecasts
indicated the storm would not hit
Boone, the school would continue to
keep a close watch on the storm’s
progress.
Despite the problems the snow
caused, students across the state took
advantage of the weather, said Karen
Storms, a UNC-W junior from Bunn.
“I think everyone just enjoyed a day
off.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
A week and a half after declaring her
candidacy, junior Jamie DeMent has
decided to drop from the race for stu
dent body president.
She said personal problems would
interfere with her campaigning.
The race for Carolina Athletic
Association president is currently
between four candidates, while only one
candidate has publicly announced his
candidacy for Residence Hall
Association.
Junior Jen Senthouse is the only can
didate for the post of Senior Class pres
ident.
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
Many schools and businesses were
closed, and tens of thousands remained
without electricity Thursday throughout
the Carolinas, Texas and Florida.
Alabama residents stripped store
shelves bare, closed schools and gener
ally hunkered down, while freezing rain,
sleet and snow interrupted hundreds of
airline flights, snarled highway traffic
and cut power to thousands of homes
across north and central Texas.
Baltimore announced that it already
had exhausted its annual snow l removal
budget as of Thursday, half of
Maryland’s school districts remained
closed and commuters cursed snow-nar-
Massive Storm Catches
Forecasters Off Guard
Several unusual traits of the
storm system that hit North
Carolina earlier this week
made it difficult to predict.
By Lani Harac
Staff Writer
The nor’easter that barreled through
the Carolinas on Monday night, leaving
record-breaking snow accumulations
across the Triangle before continuing up
the East Coast, caught many forecasters
off guard.
Despite recent advancements in
snow prediction techniques and equip
ment, meteorologists said the storm’s
uncertain nature was its only certainty.
At 8 p.m. Monday, the National
Weather Service was still predicting
only 1 to 3 inches of snow for the
Chapel Hill area. The storm dropped 16
inches on Chapel
Hill and 24 inches
in Raleigh.
This week’s
nor’easter was
unusually strong,
said assistant geog
raphy Professor
Chip Konrad, an
expert on large
weather systems.
Predicting
“Very few models that I am
aware of can predict how much
snow (will accumulate) with
any degree of accuracy. ”
P.J. Robinson
UNC Geography Professor
nor’easters generally involves a lot of
guesswork, he said. A number of differ
ent factors come together to produce
them - factors that are themselves dif
ficult to predict.
“This was a particularly fascinating
weather system, and no one else pre
dicted it - the models didn’t predict it,”
he said. “They didn’t expect it to
strengthen like it did.”
Meteorologists use complex weather
models to predict the track and severi
ty of a developing winter storm.
But geography Professor PJ.
Robinson, who teaches a climatology
class, said the storm was predicted accu
rately.
rowed streets as traffic crawled.
Georgia residents as far south as
Albany and Columbus were nervously
awaiting more snow, sleet and freezing
rain that were predicted.
Images of last week’s ice-covered
roads and darkened houses in the
Atlanta area are still fresh on their
minds.
United States
Censne
2000
Did you know... The Ist Census
was conducted in 1790?
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393,751 people in North Carolina
3,929,214 people in the VS
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“They actually predicted it early.
They said it would start late afternoon,
but it started a few hours later,” he said.
National Weather Service spokesman
Bob Chartuk said weather-system com
puter models predicted nine out of 10
weather systems “on the nose.” But this
one developed closer to land, devel
oped quickly and moved more slowly
than the weather service expected.
Weather-system models have gotten
faster and more accurate, Konrad said.
He said it was strange that the models
did not predict this system. “How they
blew the forecast (was) in the amount of
precipitation expected,” he said.
Robinson said he disagreed. “Very
few models that I am aware of can pre
dict how much snow (will accumulate)
with any degree of accuracy,” he said.
Storms like the nor’easter that hit
Monday develop when warm, moist air
from the South encounters cold air,
Chartuk said. The colder the air, the
more likely that
snow will fall.
The weather in
general, including
last week’s snow,
contributed to
large accumula
tions by keeping
the air colder, he
added. The sur
face temperature
of the ocean also
has been relatively warmer than usual
for this time of year, which meant more
precipitation was likely.
Konrad said meteorologists had a
large amount of data to work with in
predicting weather systems, often mak
ing forecasts more difficult
“Considering all the different vari
ables that come into play, they do a
great job (predicting the weather).”
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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