Logan campus experiences extreme snowfall

After months of a dry winter, sudden snowfall has hit Cache Valley. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning in effect Feb. 18 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Heavy snow was expected at rates of 1 inch or more per hour until about 3 p.m., and showery conditions persisted through the remainder of the day.

Utah State University sent out an Aggie Alert canceling classes on the Logan campus beginning at 1:30 p.m. due to the severe weather conditions. This also includes classes originating from the Logan campus and taken across the state. 

Pedestrians help push a car stuck in the snow outside Millennial Towers on Feb. 18.

The alert stated “offices and student services will remain open, but supervisors should work with their employees to determine the best option for their individual situations.”

“We just wanted to make sure today that students who were not already on campus didn’t feel like they needed to travel to campus. They could take care of their own safety,” said Associate Vice President for Strategic Communications Amanda DeRito.

The Logan campus has experienced over 8 inches of snowfall, and other areas in Cache Valley have experienced between 5 and 10 inches of snowfall.

“It came pretty quickly,” DeRito said. “Weather is inherently unpredictable and even when we have a forecast, it’s always a range.”

A set of stairs next to the Aggie Terrace parking garage, as seen on Feb. 18.

Utah State’s weather team will continue to closely monitor the weather and reach out to the National Weather Service office in Salt Lake City for further updates and how to proceed.

The severity of the snow has resulted in power outages in the valley. An Instagram post by the City of Logan posted acknowledged the outage.

“Crews have been dispatched and are working on getting power restored,” the post read. “Thank you for your patience as we work to get power restored as quickly as possible.”

The storm has also resulted in canyon closures for both Logan Canyon and Wellsville Canyon. 

“The roads were really impacted throughout the valley and really actually across northern Utah, so we’re just looking at impacts. What are the safety concerns?” DeRito said.

After evaluating safety and road conditions, Aggie Shuttle also suspended service on Logan campus. Austin Kleven, shuttle supervisor at USU, said while there were no incidents with the Aggie Shuttle buses, numerous connecting shuttles had gotten stuck and slid off the road.

“Based off watching that, I made the decision that we had to get our buses and people off the streets for a little bit and let the plows and the snow crews get to work,” Kleven said.