The freezing temperatures gripping North Texas prompted TCU to close the campus for weekend.

All in-person classes, events and meetings will be moved to an online format. This includes the COVID-19 vaccination site, which has been pushed back a week. School officials advised students to stay off roads and sidewalks.

North Texas is under a Winter Storm Warning through 6 p.m. Monday. The National Weather Service has warned that there could be 3-6 inches of snow and windchills as low as -15 degrees.

Temperatures are expected to remain frigid throughout the weekend and into next week.

Fort Worth National Weather Service meteorologist Lamont Bain said this cold weather is a rare occurrence.

“We’ve got cold air mass that’s moving south from Canada and a lot of cloud cover,” Bain said. “We’re looking at a very active jet stream pattern. Typically we don’t have cold air and moisture in place, but we’ve got strong winds in the system.”

Bain said it’s likely to stay cold through the middle of next week, and temperatures may not get above freezing until Wednesday.

The cold could make travel treacherous and residents are warned that roads, bridges, overpasses and sidewalks could ice over. 

Earlier this week, the weather caused multiple freeway closures due to accidents, including a 100- car pileup on Interstate 35W. Although it is still a developing story, there are six casualties confirmed by Fort Worth police and fire officials.

These conditions caused a number of schools and universities to close their campuses and either cancel classes or move them online.

TCU student Jacob Makowecki, junior accounting major, said though the weather is very cold, it is convenient that most classes are online.

“I know for most of my friends and I, our classes are mostly online so we do not need to leave our houses much,” Makowecki, who living off campus, said. “Basically there’s no such thing as snow days anymore, because everything can be put online.”