Penn
The record-breaking 40 inches of snow that hit Philadelphia in January 1996 did more than close roads and cancel flights - it shut down an entire University for two days.
John Fry, Penn's Executive Vice President at the time, closed the campus on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9, marking the first time the University was closed for snow in two years.
The University was last shut down due to inclement weather in 2003 when Friday classes were canceled, according to DP archives.
In the 1996 snowstorm, crews of 50 to 60 people worked 14-hour days to ensure that the University was safe and ready for the students' return to campus the following week.
But for students trying to make it back to Philadelphia, they may have needed more help outside the city.
Philip Kim, whose train from New York was stopped for three hours, was annoyed by the many travel delays caused by the blizzard.
"It was a real pain," he said.
Nation
A vicious nor'easter - popularly dubbed the "Blizzard of '96" - dumped several feet of snow all along the East Coast from Jan. 6 to 8 in 1996.
Major East Coast cities - including Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Washington D.C. - each sustained record amounts of snowfall that shut down major parts of their respective infrastructures.
A state of emergency was declared by Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell, who now serves as Pennsylvania's governor, in response to approximately 40 inches of snow that fell on the city over two days.
Philadelphia roads were closed except for emergency purposes.
The Philadelphia International Airport was also shut down for two days before reopening on January 9.
A National Climatic Data Center report states that the blizzard caused 187 deaths and about $3.5 billion in damage.
