Mississippi State University closed campus Thursday due to the possibility of bad winter weather.
Bill Kibler, Crisis Action Team member and vice president for student affairs, said when it comes to weather-related closings, the CAT gets input from the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management office and from a MSU meteorologist.
“Our goal was to have the predictive information as accurate as possible, while assuring that any decision about Thursday could be communicated in time for all to receive the word,” he said. “The prediction was that the temperatures would drop rather quickly – raising a very real concern about ice on the roadways, sidewalks, etc.”
Kibler said the CAT always considers the safety of MSU students, faculty and staff as its highest priority.
“In the interest of safety of our students, faculty and staff that have to travel to reach the campus each day, the team recommended, and the president approved, closing the university,” Kibler said.
He said the professionals the CAT consults with on weather issues said the weather would be significantly improved Friday, so team did not think the university should be closed for a second day.
“We did include language urging caution in traveling because there was still some possibility that ice on roadways could be encountered, particularity on bridges,” Kibler said. “We never take a decision to close the campus lightly because it does impact many people in a variety of ways.”
A member of management at Kroger, Charles Wade, said the announcement of bad weather, combined with the return of students, kept the staff busy.
Wade said following an announcement of possible severe weather, customers stock up on food and gas in anticipation of snow or ice.
Wade said delivery trucks had a few issues Wednesday, but everything cleared up by Thursday.
“It was not any worse than [the week of] Christmas,” he said. “We did a good job with it.”
While the store ran low on a few items, Wade said it did not run out of milk until the end of the day and never ran out of bread.
“Gas [sales] picked up just like the store [items],” he said. “We sold a lot of firewood because people think the power will be out.”
The biggest problem for the store during bad weather is finding enough people to work, Wade said.
“We had all the check-out lanes open and had enough [staff] to keep it going,” he said.
Catherine Wiggins, junior industrial and systems engineering major, said the drive to campus Friday took her a little longer than usual. She commutes from Louisville five days a week driving on Highway 25 and Old Highway 25.
“I noticed there was actually snow on the road, light powdery stuff that was maybe blown by the wind,” she said. “It wasn’t that bad because the snow really didn’t stick and I didn’t see ice patches on the road.”
Some drivers appeared to be driving under the speed limit, but Wiggins said nothing caused a big delay.
“It was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” she said. “Everything was flowing well.”
This semester is Wiggins’s first time commuting, so she said she keeps an eye on her gas tank and tires to be safe.
“Since it’s so cold, I crank my car and let it warm up to allow the heat to work and not be too hard on the engine,” she said.
Sophomore anthropology major Emily McGee said she lives at 21 Apartments and often drives through the roundabout at Oktoc and Blackjack roads.
She said she drove a little on Thursday and Friday and did not have any problems on the roads, but Sunday morning, she had issues with the partially iced-over roundabout.
“I was going really slowly through it [because I saw the ice], but I completely slid on it and had to readjust my car,” she said. “People really need to watch out. I wasn’t going fast at all and I still lost control.”
Managing editor Aubra Whitten contributed to this article.