A crew sets up holiday decorations at Millennium Park in Chicago on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025.
Despite heavy lake-effect snow sweeping across Chicago, Columbia continued to hold in-person classes Monday, Nov. 10, while urging students and staff to use caution when traveling to campus.
It was the first measurable snow fall of the season.
In an email sent to faculty, staff and students the night before, the college said it was “closely monitoring the winter storm warning” and encouraged the community to stay informed by signing up for Everbridge, Columbia’s emergency communication system.
Some faculty members independently moved sessions to Microsoft Teams in anticipation of unsafe conditions.
The college followed up with another message at 6 a.m. on Monday, confirming operations would continue as normal. Chicago Public Schools also stayed open.
Students commuting described lengthy travel times and near-zero visibility during their morning commutes.
Morgan Gilliard, a junior fashion major from Chicago, said her commute to campus was denser due to the road conditions with a longer traffic time.
“There was like a flurry outside and the ground was icy,” Gilliard said.
When Adrian Fuentes, a junior year illustration major, got to campus sidewalks were still slippery.
“I was able to come here just fine. It was a lot more slippery though,” he said.
Fuentes said that getting warning notifications from the college kept him up to date.
“I think it’s been somewhat helpful just to let me know what’s going on,” he said.
Lake-effect snow happens when cold Arctic air passes over the warmer waters of Lake Michigan, creating narrow snow bands capable of producing several inches of snow per hour along the shoreline.
The National Weather Service predicted snowfall rates of two to three inches per hour and gusts up to 30 mph created whiteout conditions near Lake Michigan, making travel “dangerous to nearly impossible” in parts of Cook County.
The actual snowfall varied widely. By early afternoon, Chicago O’Hare International Airport had just an inch of snow. Some parts of Lake County, southern Wisconsin and northern Indiana got 10 or more inches of snow.
The downtown streets near Columbia’s South Loop campus got a few inches of snow that eventually turned into slush by late Monday morning.
The last time the college closed due to weather conditions was in 2019 during the polar vortex. The college closed when temperatures went 20 below zero, with even colder wind chills of minus 50. The college closed from Tuesday night, Jan. 29, through Wednesday, Jan. 30.
Junior journalism major Leonardo Esparza’s class was one of the few that were moved online.
“I got to sleep a bit more and being a huge fan of snow, I really enjoyed waking up today and not having to take the CTA in this cold weather,” Esparza said. “It made my mood for the day feel really happy.”
Additional reporting by Julia Martinez Arroyo, Matt Brady and Uriel Reyes
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
