Another Storm Looming, Harvard Will Stay Open Monday

Harvard will remain open Monday, when a winter storm may cover Boston with as much as a foot of snow, but administrators plan to monitor weather reports overnight in anticipation.

According to emails sent Sunday to Faculty of Arts and Sciences affiliates by Dean for Administration and Finance Leslie A. Kirwan ’79, FAS will hold classes on Monday and communicate any updates or alerts by 6:15 a.m. that morning.

A winter storm warning for Massachusetts went into effect on Sunday at 9 p.m. and will last until 1 a.m. Tuesday. Boston Public Schools will close Monday because of the weather, according to a statement from Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who declared a snow emergency for the city to go in effect Monday; cars parked on major Boston roads after 8 a.m. will be towed. A parking ban for Cambridge will go into effect at 5 a.m. Monday.

The University suspended operations less than a week ago for a blizzard—nicknamed "Juno"—that dumped about two feet of snow on campus. The storm, which prompted Massachusetts Governor Charles D. Baker ’79 to declare a state of emergency, interrupted undergraduate course shopping week.

Harvard suspended operations last Tuesday for the blizzard Juno. By Y. Kit Wu

Historically, Harvard has closed for just a few major weather events, including the blizzard of 1978, 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, and 2013’s winter storm “Nemo.” In 1977, former Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III joked that, “Harvard University will close only for an act of God, such as the end of the world.”

—Staff writer Meg P. Bernhard can be reached at meg.bernhard@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @Meg_Bernhard.