Beware Juno

By: Connor Lenahan

I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I moved to Boston, Massachusetts for college. I have an extensive injury history that focuses heavily in the winter months. I have a wheelchair that makes it hard to navigate in the snow.

Oh, I’m sorry, I’m just trying to find what logic made it seem like this was all a good move for me. You know, when you are facing your imminent demise you are normally provoked to find what decisions you made led you to said downfall. I think that’s from Plato, or maybe Nas.

Let’s get one thing very clear from the beginning here: There are snow storms and there are blizzards. Snow storms are fun in that they make everything look like winter, cover every inch of grass around, leave some annoying slush until the morning sun melts it, and can be fun to walk around in.

A blizzard is like if you took a hurricane and froze it. For those that have encountered such mega storms in years past this is accurate. For others, like my girlfriend Laura LaBrecque, a native of central California that has only walked around in live snow maybe three times, this might not be clear.

We aren’t talking about some dumb mail fraud scheme or hijacking here, we stole a balloon!

Err, we are talking a downright Snowpocalypse.

I was not in Boston for Winter Storm Nemo in the February of what was my senior year of high school. I’ve heard stories from friends that were on campus about being trapped in their dorms, having to struggle against extreme conditions, and going to war alongside their fellow Terriers in a Snowbrawl.

Nemo was a storm that dropped two feet of snow on Boston. Winter Storm Juno, set to hit tomorrow, is projected to match the coating Nemo gave us. So what does that mean?

Well one thing is clear: Enjoy your day off Tuesday. There is no way in hell that school will be open in a blizzard when it’s been canceled in the past year for a storm that dropped less than half of what Juno (probably) will. I mean, according to Weather.com the heavy snow kicks up at 10PM tomorrow and stops at 6PM Tuesday. That’s right, 20 hours of punishing snow. When the options are “Spanish Class” vs “City-Shutdown Level Weather Emergency” the latter takes the fight like Oprah against a honey-baked ham.

I thought about emailing my professors to tell them I’m taking a day off Tuesday regardless of whether or not BU does, but I figured why waste my time? I talked with my roommate Pat McKay about this an hour ago and summed it up by lifting my foot a decent ways off the floor and saying “This is what we are getting.”

That’s from Nemo. That’s real. Hell, we might not have class Wednesday either. There’s a chance I’m going to have to take two days off this week. I don’t like falling behind in classes, nor do I with work, but the reality is that the wheelchair is a very real thing to worry about. I could barely cross campus today over the BU Bridge due to sludge. There’s an exceedingly good chance I won’t be able to navigate campus for two days later this week. I’m obviously a lower hurdle – it takes way less to count my safety as a risk than others given the chair, the bone condition, and the cautious nature everyone at BU has with/for me (Side note: That’s always awesome that people are either willing to help or totally understanding when I make a judgement call based on winter storms.).

But seriously, this isn’t a storm that “might” come. This was the talk of every conversation I had today. If the Weather Channel had this predicted a week ago I would be a bit more skeptical. No, it’s right here. When we are less than 24 hours out that doesn’t just slip away. I bluffed my way through a class on weather, so you know I am educated on this topic.

Here’s the take away: Be safe. Have a fun time being stuck inside. This is going to be an awesome story to tell everyone at home if you aren’t dumb about it. Go have snowball wars, make snowmen, snow angels, Olafs, watch Netflix, whatever. But if there’s anything to be sure of it’s this, just don’t be stupid. As much fun as it’s going to be to have a massive snow storm this is not the time to risk anything. Blizzards make it so you can barely see in front of you. It’s like everything else in life, if you’re keeping a mental check on yourself to remove any big red flags then it’ll be an amazing time. Just don’t get arrested for throwing a snowball at a cop – yes this happened.

Stock up on your Pizza Rolls and wine now, the storm is on its way.