Forty-two inches of snow fell in Hanover over Winter Break, just over 18 inches of that falling on Saturday and Sunday, complicating student travel plans as they returned to campus but benefiting many local businesses.
Last winter, by contrast, barely nine inches of the white stuff fell in Hanover through December, and in 2000 the accumulations amounted to a foot and a half. The normal snowfall through December is about 25 inches, according to figures released by the National Weather Service.
The forecast for the next week calls for high temperatures below freezing and frequent but light snowfall.
Transportation was one of the sectors hardest hit by the weekend snowfall. Interstates 89 and 91 remained slippery for much of the weekend, slowing traffic to a crawl at times. Students reported seeing several cars that had spun off the road due to the adverse driving conditions. Parking spaces on campus were also hard to come by because many were not yet plowed as of Sunday.
Some students delayed coming to Hanover because of the weekend storm. Lizzy Cuneo '06 "didn't want to drive up into the storm," so she delayed her return to campus until Sunday, when the roads were clearer.
Although Vermont Transit rarely suspends its bus routes, "we did cancel some service on Friday night," Vermont Transit General Manager Chris Andreasson said.
Bus service to Manchester Airport and Boston's Logan Airport was delayed somewhat on Saturday, though normal schedules returned by yesterday.
"We had good crowds out of both Logan and Manchester airport," Andreasson reported.
Airports were largely unaffected by the snow, though some delays and cancellations did occur.
As a result, some undergraduates were able to return with few hitches. Andy Ross '03 reported that his flight from Los Angeles to Boston on Saturday arrived without delay and that his bus pulled into Hanover only a half-hour late.
Not all students experienced good luck in their trips to Hanover. While flying into Boston, Bruce Gago '05 was diverted to Baltimore and arrived in New England late on Friday night. Though he was told that one last bus from Vermont Transit would make the run to the Hanover Inn, the bus never came, and he was forced to spend the night at the airport.
Students also reported that Dartmouth Coach cancelled some of their Saturday morning buses, though representatives of the company were unavailable to say how much the snow impacted their service.
Some companies, far from suffering from the weather, are reveling in the five feet of snow that has fallen since the first snowfall on Oct. 23.
"I'm loving every minute of it," Hanover True Value Vice President Mike Campbell said.
"Anything that has to do with winter, snow, ice removal, is flying out of here," he said, adding that a shipment of snow shovels on Saturday was sold out by noon the same day. Sales of snow tubes and sleds are also strong, he reported.
Managers of local ski resorts were also grateful for the heavier-than-normal snowfalls in the Upper Valley region.
"We're certainly far ahead of the game. Last year was not the most generous of years in terms of snowfall," Dartmouth Skiway Director Douglas Holler.
Despite the greater quantities of natural snow, Holler said snowmaking efforts are continuing. "It could turn 65 degrees tomorrow," he explained.
Snow-sports enthusiasts do not seem to have been deterred by the less-than-ideal driving conditions, Holler said. "Skiers are a pretty hardy lot."
