A winter storm that has stretched from Minnesota to Texas has forced Syracuse University to cancel several events this week. The storm will reach Syracuse on Wednesday.

A winter storm warning is in effect locally until Wednesday at 5 p.m. with a total of 9 to 14 inches of snow expected, according to a National Weather Service report. Though multiple events have been canceled this week at SU, 36 inches or more of snow must accumulate within a 24-hour period for the university to close, according to university policy.

Severe winter weather conditions in Philadelphia prevented poet Sonia Sanchez from boarding a plane to Syracuse, where she was supposed to appear on campus Tuesday as the speaker for the 28th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Public Affairs Lecture, said Judy Holmes, communications manager for the College of Arts and Sciences. The lecture has yet to be rescheduled, Holmes said.

Because of the advancing snowstorm, College of Law officials canceled a lecture scheduled for Wednesday featuring Robert Freeman, executive director of New York state’s Committee on Open Government, according to an e-mail sent to political science majors.

The Whitman Career Fair originally scheduled for Wednesday was canceled because of concerns about New York City travel arrangements and because some corporation representatives already canceled, according to an e-mail sent to students in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. It will not be rescheduled, according to the e-mail.

Friday’s lecture by Paul Wylde, creative director of the Aviation Studio at Teague in Seattle, was also canceled because of the weather and does not have a rescheduled time, said Erica Blust, director of communications for the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Blizzard warnings, winter storm warnings, freezing rain advisories, winter weather advisories and winter storm watches have extended across the nation this week. The storm reached as far south as Dallas, where two area-airports shut down temporarily Monday because of icy runways.

Scot Vanderpool, SU’s manager of Parking and Transit Services, said he has assembled a phone list of all campus bus drivers so they can be reached if there are problems Wednesday due to the weather. In December, two buses were stuck on South Campus during a heavy snowstorm, but Vanderpool said he believes it was an isolated incident and does not foresee it happening again.

At SU, the Caz Limo and Tours bus route is already planned to run on the abbreviated snow route Wednesday, but all Centro bus routes on campus are the same, Vanderpool said.

Throughout the day, Parking and Transit Services officials will be in communication with Physical Plant workers, who handle clearing university sidewalks and roadways, Vanderpool said. Allan Breese, director of business and facilities maintenance services, said he anticipates the storm to be ‘substantial’ but also a ‘typical heavy storm for Syracuse.’

Physical Plant workers typically start working at 4 or 5 a.m., but on Wednesday they will begin working at 3 a.m. to clear the snow, Breese said. Additionally, workers getting off at 2 a.m. from the night shift will likely stay over, he said.

Said Breese: ‘We’re as prepared as we’ll ever be.’

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

Published on February 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride