Kevin,

I’m responding to the TechAlum newsletter from today, specifically the
article about the earliest snow. I remember that there were two years
in a row where the first snow was October 6th, it was a Friday and a
Saturday, and both years we got enough good wet snow in the single
evening that everyone evacuated the dorms to go sledding and throw
snowballs we were so excited, and the international students in West
McNair were all out taking pictures. Based on

http://www.mtu.edu/alumni/favorites/snowfall/ and

http://www.timeanddate.com/, those must have been October 2000 and
October 2001.

My father (also an alumnus) has an even better snow story (although I
don’t know if it qualifies as earliest or latest), about how many push
ups he did in July in Kansas when his plane being snowed in at Tech
made him late to ROTC training one year – somehow the drill instructor
didn’t really believe his story for why he was a day late.

Tina Wood-Wentz, ’02

Thanks, Tina. I was talking with someone at another college a few weeks back and they mentioned that they can have winters that are a bit rough. Because they get around 40 inches of snow per year. I tried not to laugh while explaining that we usually call that Thursday. –Kevin

Kevin:

My first memorable snowfall at Tech is a permanent part of my Tech storytelling! On October 3, 1970, my freshman year, I was sitting at a Tech football game. Being from downstate, I had always enjoyed watching football on a warm fall afternoon. That bias probably led me to underdress for the afternoon…it certainly left me ill-prepared mentally for what was to come. By mid-game, the day had turned blustery and snow began to fall. By the time we gave up on the game to find some warmth, all of us found ourselves sitting with 2-3″ of fluffy snow on our shoulders!

I had always loved winter, but now had to adapt to it starting earlier. That dubious introduction to snow in the Copper Country led to many days of blizzards, great snowshoeing adventures and many other memorable and enjoyable experiences over the ensuing four years!

J.B. Hoyt, ’74

Thanks, J.B. It’s amazing how it sneaks up on us like that, with a day looking nice and sunny and pleasant and then wham: a little gift from Gitche Gumee. Makes spectator sports tough. I guess we all have to play them instead! (Side note: the broomball rinks are assembled on Walker Lawn). –Kevin