In the meadow, we can build a snowman
And pretend that he is LeeRoy Tiger…
Do the colder temperatures have you dreaming of a snow day? We took a deep dive into the history of Trinity snowstorms–they are more common than you would think!
From 1902 to 1942, Trinity was located in the small town of Waxahachie, just south of Dallas. Winter storms were more common in that part of the state, but it didn’t diminish the students’ enjoyment of an unexpected snowfall!
1940 Mirage Yearbook
The current Skyline campus opened in 1952, but didn’t experience a measurable snowfall until twelve years later in 1964. Another storm dropped several inches a few years later, in 1966.
1966 Mirage Yearbook
While these snowy days provided fun and excitement for students, nothing compared to the Blizzard of 1985. While forecasters called for 3-5 inches, a whopping 13.5 inches fell over the course of two days in January 1985.
The city was paralyzed and classes were canceled; students made the best of it by borrowing dining hall trays from Mabee to use for sledding. The Trinitonian reported that the dining hall “recovered 30 to 40 trays, although it lost far more than that to snow-crazed Trinity students.”
January 18, 1985 Trinitonian
Sometimes only small amounts of snowfall can cause major issues on campus; in 2011,
Bid Day was canceled due to one inch of snow, and frigid temperatures that froze pipes around campus (source). Temperatures returned to the mid-70s by the end of the weekend, allowing the rescheduled festivities to go off without a hitch.
Will this winter provide a day or two of snowy fun for tigers? Time will tell!
We’ll have lots of fun with LeeRoy Snowman,
Until the Texas sunshine melts him down….
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