December 21, 2017

Every now and then, Frosty visits Stanford to turn the campus into a winter wonderland

With winter upon us, Stanford Report looks back on the times the campus experienced a rare snowfall. The two most recent occurrences were Jan. 20, 1962, and Feb. 5, 1976.

By Stanford News Service

snow in 1962 — Serra Street, Hoover Tower and the front of the Main Quad after a rare snowfall on Jan. 20, 1962. Previous snowfalls occurred on Jan. 21, 1932, and Feb. 5, 1887.
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

snowballs in 1962 — Serra Street became the site of a snowball fight when snow lightly covered campus on Jan. 20, 1962.
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Snowball fight — The snowball fight moved across Serra Street into the Oval, where palm trees can be seen bending under the weight of the snow.
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

snow in 1976 — A day after temperatures hit the 70s, an inch of snow fell on campus on Feb. 5, 1976. A snowman appeared in White Plaza.
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Snow in 1976 — According to the Stanford Daily, temperatures were summerlike just days before snow fell throughout the mid-Peninsula. The Daily reported about the change at student residences: “What had looked like a beach house replete with sunbathers earlier this week suddenly seemed to become a ski lodge, with snow revelers sledding down nearby hills and unleashing snowballs at passers by.”
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Snow covered roofs — The book Letters from Stanford by Alison Carpenter Davis contains this description from one alumna of the 1976 snowfall: “This has been a truly exciting day today. Just about every girl on my floor was out in the hall yelling, ‘It’s snowing, it’s snowing!’ And yes, folks, it was snowing. Not so much that I thought it warranted yelling at 6 a.m., however. It was amazing how wild people went. The Californians were especially crazy.”
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Block S 1976 — According to an article in the Stanford Observer, photographers Charles Painter and Jose Mercado found a huge block S trampled in the Oval in front of the Quad.
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Snowballs and snowmen — Snowmen and snowball fights after a rare Stanford snowfall in 1976. According to the Stanford Observer, the snowfall marked the end of what was one of the worst droughts in California history.
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Snowman 1976 — It may have been only an inch of snow, but it was just enough for this little one to have fun building a snowman.
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Last of the snow — It was fun while it lasted.
Image credit: Courtesy Department of Special Collections and University Archives

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