THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996               TAG: 9601190220
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JOE MARINO, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

BLIZZARD OF '96: ON CAMPUS, SNOW WAS FUN, FOR A WHILE

THE SNOW STARTED last Saturday big, fluffy flowers fell at first. By nightfall, 3 inches had dropped.

On Sunday, 2 feet of snow covered the grounds of Radford University and more was falling. It was the ``Blizzard of 96.'' Everyone was freaking out.

Snowstorms are common in this part of Virginia, but oddly, nobody was prepared. When the storm worsened, unusual things began to happen.

For starters, the dorms were opened one day early. But this made little difference. Virtually no one returned from break. Classes were cancelled for four days.

Another weird sight was the traffic. Chevy Blazers charged up steep, snow-covered streets. Pickups of all makes and models, Rodeos, Amigos and Explorers now ruled the icy streets. The only car was a Subaru Outback that defied its commercials and got stuck in the snow.

Radford gets 36 inches of precipitation per year, a good portion of it snow. But few had snow shovels. Every store sold out. One hardware sold a shipment of 100 shovels right off the truck.

Since this is college, and alcohol is widely considered the fifth food group, panic struck when the local 7-Eleven started running low on beer. Budweiser trucks couldn't make it up the icy streets. Worried students recommended that the beer be re-supplied by air.

The only clear spot following the storm was Domino's Pizza. The parking lot was clean and the drivers drove 4 x 4s. Hail the power of pepperoni.

When snow subsided and students returned, the oddities remained. A 7-foot long icicle hung perilously from the roof of an off-campus book store - two stories above the sidewalk. The snow on walkways was melted by rock salt; at night melted water changed to ice. Wind gusts of 50 miles per hour blew snow with ear-freezing fury. Skiers talked about the great conditions at resorts, then realized the snow blocked most of the roads leading to them.

One week later, we still have 13 inches of snow, and all parking lots have a mountain of the white stuff in the middle.

And guess what? They are calling for more this weekend. by CNB