Yale students woke up to discover their campus blanketed with a thick layer of snow yesterday.

Fierce storms brought roughly a foot of snow to New Haven on Monday, cancelling classes and events across Yale’s campus. Students used the break from class to toss snowballs and enjoy what will likely be the last major winter storm before spring break.

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But there was no University-sanctioned snow day. Still, students interviews said a number of classes were cancelled, including “Punishment, Politics and Culture”; “Spanish in International Politics & Media”; a section of English 120; and CHEM225, an organic chemistry lecture.

Even during the storied blizzard of 1978, when then-Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso ordered citizens to stay inside, Yale did not officially cancel classes — though most students acquiesced to the governor’s request.

In February 2001, students received a fake e-mail proclaiming a University snow day. Thinking the message was real, many headed back to bed, waking hours later to a message from University Secretary Linda Lorimer proclaiming the first a hoax.

Several events around campus, including a GESO rally and an event entitled, “Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace and the Law,” were postponed Monday due to the weather.

In the absence of routine classes and events, many students entertained themselves with fun activities. The women’s club rugby team hit the Branford Courtyard at 4:30 p.m. for a round of snow rugby, or “snugby.” Snowball fights erupted across campus, and the Freshman Class Council organized a massive snowball fight on Old Campus Monday evening.

“It was meant for everyone on Old Campus, as well as freshmen from TD and Silliman,” FCC chair Adam Thomas ’12 said. “We wanted to make sure all the freshman could have one last epic time with the snow before break.”

Brian Seavey SPH ’09 organized a soccer game on the New Haven Green. By late afternoon, over a dozen students were kicking the ball around on the snow-covered green.

“I go to these pick-up soccer games regularly, but this one, playing in the snow, was so much more fun!” said Noor Al-Samarrai, a high school student taking classes at Yale.

For some students, the snow was a bit on an inconvenience.

“I slipped and fell a couple of times,” Iman Sakkaf ’11 said. “That was sad — and funny.”