Published February 4, 2011

Harvard undergrads, still hoping for a snow day in this extra-brutal winter: Don’t hold your breath.

The Crimson reports Harvard College has cancelled classes for snow only once, for three days, during the Blizzard of ’78.

Administrators decided to officially shut down Harvard on Feb. 7, only after then-Gov. Michael S. Dukakis declared a state of emergency, closed schools for two days and called in 8,500 members of the National Guard to help clear the roads.

[…]

By Wednesday, two days after the snow started, 29 inches had accumulated in Boston.

The snow was so deep that it buried any cars left abandoned on the road. Because Dukakis banned all means of transportation except for emergency vehicles, many students used skis to get around campus.

“We were cross-country skiing and literally going across the tops of cars,” said Patricia M. Nolan ’80.

Harvard’s graduate schools have closed for snow this winter, Harvard spokesman Kevin Galvin tells me. But it took the greatest snowstorm of all time to close Harvard College.