A vicious cold front that descended upon the Northeast last week continued to bring sub-zero temperatures through the weekend. Temperatures in Waltham reached record lows on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The thermometer barely reached 12 degrees Friday and sunk to a low of nine below zero. Combined with the blustering winds, the air at Brandeis rarely felt warmer than 15 below zero that day.

On Friday, public schools and government offices across New England and New York closed due to the icy conditions, creating a four-day holiday weekend. The Arctic blast failed to disrupt classes at Brandeis last week, but many students found themselves taking preventative steps against the biting cold.

Temperatures have warmed since Sunday, but the recent days were nonetheless a brutal example of the New England winter.

Marc Lowe '05 hails from San Francisco, but after a few years at Brandeis, appeared almost used to this weather on Friday.

While he spoke favorably of the climate in his hometown, he said he combats the wintry conditions with a ski jacket over a fleece jacked.

Lowe also pointed out his fleece-lined trousers offered warmth from the cold front. Despite his measures to deal with the weather, he expressed some discomfort with the freezing conditions.

"Californians aren't holding up well," Lowe said on behalf of people from warmer parts of the country.

The fierce winter conditions affected more than people's choice of outerwear. Although Brandeis receives its own power from on-campus generators, Massachusetts residents were-at times-at risk of losing electrical power. ISO New England, the company that maintains and operates the region's electric grid, warned its 14 million customers to this effect Friday.

Citing two consecutive days of record-breaking electricity demand, ISO requested New Englanders be frugal in using electric devices.

A press release on Friday from the power authority based in Holyoke, Mass. put Thursday's demand at 22,727 megawatts, and expected Friday's demand to close in on 23,000 MW. These demand levels would comprise nearly 75 percent of ISO's total capacity of 32,000 MW.

Several authorities spoke of one potential countermeasure to the increased power demands on Thursday. Vermont Gov. James Douglas told his constituents to restrict power usage to avoid rolling blackouts, while ISO told CNN that exhausted natural gas plants increased the burden on other facilities, making the prospect of rolling blackouts very realistic. This measure was not employed last week, but nonetheless served as a reminder of the weather.

The local conditions were rather mild compared to conditions atop Mount Washington, N.H. According to the National Weather Service, the temperature atop New England's highest peak fell to 44 degrees below zero on Friday, with wind chills approaching 100 below.

Not all Californians were as ready for the cold as Lowe. Michael Carnow '07 is experiencing his first Massachusetts winter after living in Los Angeles. The surprised Los Angeles said he would walk "very, very fast," especially when going to a class at the Sachar International Center.

"It's definitely a lot colder than home," Carnow said while reminiscing of 80 degree days in Southern California.

There has been some respite from last week's punishing cold since Sunday. The Weather Channel forecasts a high of 22 degrees today and projects local temperatures will hover in the 20s into next week.