Texans received a chilling reminder last week that winter has not ended.

The arctic cold front that swept across the state the evening of Feb. 1 brought freezing weather that inconvenienced Austin and much of the state with rolling blackouts, icy roads and a long weekend due to a snow day.

On the first day of the freeze, St. Edward’s University distributed a message via Topper Text warning members of the community about the statewide power outages and reassuring them that classes would not be canceled.

Courses continued as scheduled on Feb. 2—even through the early rolling blackouts that affected buildings along the South Congress Avenue grid, according to Director of the Physical Plant Michael Peterson. Peterson and his team coordinate utilities services, maintenance and development projects on campus.

The temporary power loss was only one of the problems experienced on campus over the next few days. Other problems included a frozen coil on the loading dock of the Hunt Hall cafeteria, which caused water damage; malfunctioned freeze gauges on the irrigation system that watered the softball field and grass along Moody Drive during the icy conditions; and busted pipes at Mang House and the chapel.

“The buildings here are not designed for below freezing weather like in the north,” said Peterson, a native of Green Bay, Wis. “They’re designed for a hot weather climate so this [weather] is out of the norm for us.”

Physical Plant dealt with problems as they arose but also took some preventative measures, including modifying building heating schedules and keeping an on-call team to monitor the facilities.

Snow and ice occurred early the morning of Feb. 4, yielding between one-half and a full inch of snow in Austin.

The icy road conditions grounded most people across the state, including truckers. However, the brave minority still took to the road—for example, junior Carley Little.

Little was waiting at a stoplight when a fast-moving truck approached from the other direction. The driver began to break but could not gain traction, and the truck rotated 180 degrees into oncoming traffic. Luckily for the driver, passengers in the oncoming lane were stopped, and the truck managed to pull into a gas station.

“It wasn’t the best idea [to be on the roads], but I think knowing that made me drive more careful,” Little said. “I am used to driving on snow and ice because I do in Canada. It becomes a problem when people do not realize that it’s dangerous and don’t know how to drive in those conditions.”

The hazardous roads also prevented the St. Edward’s softball team from traveling to San Antonio because of game cancelations, postponing the season-opening tournament. The team opted to practice on Feb. 3 in the cold conditions to acclimate themselves to the weather in case they were able to play on Feb. 4.

“I sent the girls a text saying that we’re going to get out in the cold weather and practice for an hour,” Head Coach Amy Coulter said. “They thought I was crazy. But we decided that we didn’t want to be warm; we wanted to win.”

The team was given the day off after another canceled game on Feb. 4. They took advantage of the free time, building snowmen in the batting cages and field and practicing base sliding in the snow.

“A lot of time student athletes don’t have the opportunity to have a free snow day off where they are not stressed out about school or athletics,” Coulter said. “They just have an opportunity to be a college student and play.”

The cancelation did leave the team with fewer chances to play, but they were able to win two out of four games over the weekend tournament.