University officials advised students to "stay home" on Monday following a weekend of harsh winter weather that downed power lines and coated local roads with ice.
An announcement posted online late Sunday night stated all classes on Monday, including evening classes, would be cancelled.
The closure marks a change in policy for UB, which is notorious for not closing due to weather, even through major blizzards, ice storms and natural disasters.
"The unforeseen and hazardous weather events of this weekend present a treacherous situation for all University at Buffalo students," President John Simpson said in the announcement. "In the interest of safety, I am asking students to stay home, without academic penalty."
Simpson acknowledged that the announcement was posted too late for many students to see.
He added that students who miss the announcement and come to campus should head home because power to campus could be lost at any time, and because local meteorologists expect more bad weather Monday evening.
"I regret to say this, but if you come to campus, return home, because road conditions are expected to worsen, and the fact that as of now, our power grid remains in flux," he said.
The decision was forced upon Simpson following a cold front that swept through the area last weekend with unexpected speed.
High winds and heavy, wet snow downed power lines in several areas of Western New York, shutting off power to some North Campus buildings. The failure of a transmission adaptor late Sunday in a substation near the Center for Tomorrow made the situation unstable, officials said, though the dorms still have power.
Temperatures hovered around freezing Sunday night, causing an unusual pattern of melting and freezing that poses a danger to UB's 20,000 commuter students, officials said.
"We would have been prepared for this any other time of the year, but we did not see this coming by a long shot," said Michael Dupre of University Facilities. "Frankly, there's no way we can know right now which buildings will have power later today, or which roads will be safe. This storm is totally unpredictable."
Simpson told The Spectrum that the closure of campus represents a change in policy for UB. For several years, UB officials would not cancel classes even in the event of a major blizzard, such as one that occurred in November 2000.
"I cannot comment on the university's closure policies of the past," Simpson said. "I can tell students and faculty that returning to normal operations is our highest priority, and we will continue to evaluate the situation based on weather conditions as they develop."
