The recent lake effect snowstorm has ravaged its way through Erie, Pa., since this past Black Friday. With the record-breaking snowfall, the roads were nearly impossible to navigate. Most people couldn’t even make it out of their driveways. This led to cancellation upon cancellation in almost all areas of Erie County. Cathedral Prep was among the many schools to cancel in-person classes throughout last week. For students, the most significant cancellation was school, but for adults, it was a different story.

“I couldn’t get my car out as it was under the snow for a couple days, so I had to do a lot of shoveling,” Matt Bruschi said. “Without my car, we had to manage only driving one car in a family of four household. Another big issue was that I couldn’t get to my parents’ house to check up on them.”

Erie reported a record breaking 22.6 inches of snow on Black Friday, Nov 29., the first day of the storm. This broke the all-time one-day record for snowfall in Erie. The total previously was held by the storm on Dec. 26, 2017. With week-long snowfall that was almost as heavy as the first day, things got complicated pretty quickly.

“All of that snow was just really hard to shovel because it was so heavy,” Matt Bruschi added. “I started to really worry about my roof with the weight of it because we have a really old house.”

This storm caused interstates to shut down, the National Guard to come in, a snow emergency to be declared, and a disaster emergency was executed, all in Erie County. The severity of the situation was clear. It was a frustrating and dangerous experience for many. No matter how significantly the snow affected the people of Erie, remotely everyone was impacted by the cancellations it caused.

“I was disappointed by the things that had to be cancelled,” Matt Bruschi said. “I wanted to play my weekly volleyball, go into work, and even just grocery shop.”

Junior Luke Bruschi also comments on his experience with the snowstorm and the cancellations.

“During the days that school was canceled, I stayed inside, shoveled, watched sports, and played video games,” Luke said. “I couldn’t really go anywhere with friends, but being off of school was good.”

While this lake-effect snowstorm caused some havoc for all, everyone was affected differently. I can confidently say that my dog happened to love having everyone in the house all the time just for a few days.