At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the UW-Madison campus erupted with cries of ""Snow day!"" as students rushed to sledding hills and liquor stores to celebrate their day off.
The university resumed classes Thursday, after drifted snow was cleared from campus roads, parking lots and walkways.
An estimated 3,500 students, as well as Chancellor Biddy Martin, converged on Bascom Hill Wednesday for a snowball fight between Southeast and Lakeshore Residence Halls.
""The entire hill was packed from both sides, I had a blast. There were quite a few battle wounds. I saw bloody noses and black eyes,"" said freshman Haley Hensen, who suffered a bloody nose of her own during the fight. ""I'd highly recommend it. Anytime there is a campus-wide snowball fight, everyone should go. It's a great time.""
After Martin announced classes were canceled for Wednesday, long lines of students were reported at local businesses like Regent Street Liquor, where they stocked up on alcohol to celebrate the day off.
""There were just so many people, the store couldn't handle it. The line was out the door at points,"" senior Sam Jonas said. ""That was right when they announced [the snow day]. I can't imagine how busy it would be an hour later.""
Walker declares state of emergency, blizzard forces closures across state
The Tuesday night snowstorm that forced Gov. Scott Walker to declare a state of emergency dropped over a foot of snow in parts of southeastern Wisconsin, closing highways, school and business.
All Madison city offices with the exception of police stations, fire stations and Streets Division offices were closed Wednesday.
Authorities had to close portions of Interstate 94, Interstate 43 and other highways in the morning hours due to snow accumulation. Some exit ramps are still not cleared.
The storm also caused 29 Wisconsin counties and 12 UW system schools to close for parts of Tuesday and all day Wednesday.
However, the state Legislature braved the weather and convened at the Capitol for the day.
Madison Metro buses were not in operation for all of Wednesday, but resumed services Thursday.
Madison Streets Division superintendent Al Schumacher said snow plow trucks were out Tuesday night into Wednesday, but many streets filled back with snow right after being plowed. Schumacher said the city hopes to catch up Thursday and Friday.
All city meetings including the Urban Design Commission and Housing Committee were also canceled due to the blizzard.
The Dane County Regional Airport remained open Wednesday morning despite receiving around 15 inches of snow.
