Glassboro is gradually returning to normal after a powerful winter storm blanketed South Jersey with heavy snow, forcing closures, postponements, and precautionary emergency measures across the region.
The storm moved through the area Sunday into early Monday, bringing heavy snowfall, strong winds, and periods of near-whiteout conditions. State officials described it as one of the most significant winter storms the area has seen in over a decade.
Snow totals exceeded a foot in many areas across New Jersey, with some communities reporting as much as two and a half feet of accumulation. Wind speeds reached up to 65 miles per hour, with sustained winds around 40 miles per hour, creating extremely hazardous travel conditions.
“New Jerseyans across the state heeded our calls to stay home and stay off the roads,” said Gov. Mikie Sherrill. “Meanwhile, thousands of workers made an enormous effort to get the rest of us back to school and work.”
Across the state, more than 365,000 customers lost power at the height of the storm. Officials said utility crews were able to restore more than 90 percent of those outages within a day, though tens of thousands of customers were still waiting for service to return.
Rowan University closed all campuses beginning at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 22, as the storm intensified, and remained closed throughout Monday, Feb. 23. University leaders alerted the campus community through the Rowan Alert emergency notification system, advising most employees and students not to report to campus while essential staff coordinated with their supervisors.
Behind the scenes, Rowan’s facilities team was already preparing for the storm days in advance.
“Usually when a storm is forecasted a week or so out, we start to pay attention to it, but truthfully, we don’t do much until a few days out when the forecasts become more reliable,” said Donald Stralkus, director of facilities at Rowan University.
Once weather models confirmed the storm would impact the campus grounds, Stralkus said the university began preparing equipment and coordinating staff schedules.
“We make sure our stockpiles of salt are adequate. We check our equipment, such as snowblowers and tractors, to make sure they are operating correctly, and start planning coverage for the event,” said Stralkus. “This past storm, we had our Grounds and Auto Stop staff in at around 12 to 1 p.m. to fit out our vehicles with plows, and the rest at 4 to 5 p.m. for a storm that had started to ramp up around 6 to 7 p.m.”
Snow removal across Rowan’s large campus requires coordination among multiple departments, including the grounds crew.
“The Grounds staff clears roads, parking lots, and bigger walkways with tractors and plows on trucks,” said Stralkus. “Repairers and movers clear sidewalks with snowblowers and shovels, and custodial staff clear doorways and areas immediately around the buildings.”
The scale of the storm required a large response effort. According to Stralkus, the recent blizzard involved roughly 15 grounds workers, 10 repairers and movers, 14 custodians, three auto shop workers, and two facilities directors. Staff worked through Sunday night into their regular Monday morning shifts, with some crews working for extended periods while battling equipment failures and freezing temperatures.
“The last storm we had a few transmissions go from the heavy weight of pushing snow with ice, we had shovels break, and our backhoe had a tire go flat,” said Stralkus. “Another challenge was our folks just being burnt after 28 to 36 hours of working straight.”
To give employees a chance to rest between shifts, the university opened three apartments in the Triad residence complex for facilities staff.
“The priority in all snow events is our students’ and staff safety, so we focus on residence halls and places where students need to be evacuated first,” said Stralkus. “Then we focus on paths to and from those areas and fan out from there.”
For smaller storms, facilities staff aim to have most walkways and lots cleared 24 hours after the storm has passed.
The storm also forced several campus events to be postponed. Rowan University’s Spring All-Major Career Fair, originally scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 26, was delayed due to poor weather conditions and will be rescheduled. Other campus events, including “Unity in Hue,” a celebration of 100 years of African-American history, were also postponed until early March.
As cleanup continued across campus and the borough, some students said the university’s response helped keep conditions manageable. Jeremy Adams, a sophomore English major at Rowan, said he prepared ahead of the storm by stocking up on food and other essential necessities.
“I’ve had only one class canceled, and getting around campus isn’t that bad due to the maintenance,” said Adams. “I’m not really worried about more snow. I haven’t heard it being a large enough amount to be a concern.”
State officials say recovery efforts are still ongoing even as conditions improve. Officials also warned that melting snow during the day, followed by overnight freezing, could create dangerous patches of ice.
“We’re not out of the woods yet. Some icy conditions remain, particularly in the morning before temperatures warm up,” said Gov. Sherrill. “This has been an incredible effort by everyone across New Jersey, workers, neighbors, and communities all coming together.”
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