Campus Alert Archive
Gonzaga

Spokane's Snow and Ice Send the Zags Home at 3:30 in the Afternoon

WAwinter stormemergency notificationmedium confidence

Heavy snow and ice across the Spokane region on January 17, 2024 prompted Gonzaga University to close in-person classes and business operations at 3:30 p.m., joining a regional wave of closures that included Washington State University, Eastern Washington University and North Idaho College. Gonzaga had previously needed a viral student petition in 2019 before declaring a snow day, making this administrative closure notable.

Alerts
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Response
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Institution
Gonzaga University
Private R2 · WA
ZagAlert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from KXLY coverage238 chars
ZagAlert: Due to hazardous winter weather, Gonzaga University will close in-person classes and business operations today at 3:30 p.m. Employees and students should travel home safely. Essential operations continue. Updates at gonzaga.edu.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

This message is an honest reconstruction; the 3:30 p.m. closure time is confirmed by KXLY reporting, but the exact ZagAlert wording was not recovered from an official archive.
Like WSU's same-day decision, Gonzaga chose an afternoon early release to let people travel before evening ice, rather than canceling the full day in advance.
Context

Background

Gonzaga University sits in Spokane, where a 2019 'Snowmageddon' event famously required a petition signed by more than 2,500 students before the university declared a snow day, a reputation for rarely closing that made the January 17, 2024 closure noteworthy. That afternoon, KXLY reported that snow and ice prompted Gonzaga to close in-person classes and operations at 3:30 p.m., part of a broader Inland Northwest shutdown that also closed Eastern Washington University and the Spokane-area campuses of Washington State University. The clustering of Spokane higher-education institutions means a single storm typically triggers near-simultaneous closures across the region.
Analysis

Key Findings

Gonzaga, which has historically resisted snow closures, closed in-person operations at 3:30 p.m. on January 17, 2024 amid hazardous snow and ice
The closure was part of a coordinated regional response that also shut WSU Spokane, EWU and North Idaho College the same day
No official ZagAlert archive text was recoverable, so the alert is presented as an honest reconstruction with the confirmed 3:30 p.m. closure time
Outcome
Gonzaga closed in-person operations at 3:30 p.m. on January 17, 2024; the region dug out from a snow-and-ice event that closed campuses across eastern Washington and northern Idaho.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    WSU, North Idaho College and EWU suspending operations, closing for the day due to snow - KXLY
    kxly.com
  2. News
    Gonzaga gets snow day after thousands of students sign petition - KREM
    krem.com
  3. official
    Winter storms impact WSU system - WSU Insider
    news.wsu.edu
Tags
winter-stormsnowicewashingtonspokanecampus-closureearly-release
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion