Lindsay France/University Photography

Graduates celebrate through the downpour at 2016 Commencement.

In their waning moments as students, the Class of 2016 endured momentous rain and historic heat to race past the graduation finish line on commencement weekend.

Graduating students poured through Schoellkopf Stadium gates May 29. Sunshine had dominated the morning, but storm clouds quickly formed and about 38 minutes into the procession – when the Cornell Wind Symphony hit the last notes of “Give My Regards to Davy” – the heavens opened.

The deluge caught the crowd off guard: About .23 inches of hard, steady rain fell at the field in about a half-hour period, estimates Mark Wysocki, senior lecturer in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Keith Eggleston, regional climatologist of Cornell’s Northeast Regional Climate Center.

That morning, the sky was bright and clear at 8 a.m., but two hours later, the weather rapidly changed. An in situ isolated shower had developed over Ithaca and campus, where large drops of rain saturated the Schoellkopf crowd of 31,000, according to Wysocki.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you may have noticed a little rain,” said stadium announcer David Feldshuh, professor of performing and media arts. “Cornell believed it was a little too warm and we should have a refresher. However, I am told this cloud will pass shortly.”

The rain reduced to spitting for the ceremony but with further rain and thunder threatening the event, Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff spoke quickly and graduated the students en masse – arguably making the 2016 commencement ceremony the fastest in Cornell’s history, according to Corey Earle ’07, associate director of Student and Young Alumni Programs, who keeps Cornell historical graduation statistics.

From 1947 until 1974, graduation was held at Barton Hall but moved outdoors to Schoellkopf in 1975. Since then, the ceremony has never moved inside due to rain. On graduation morning 2016, Cornell’s Game Farm Road weather station recorded .22 inches and the Cornell Orchards had .23 inches, but other locations in eastern Ithaca recorded .6 inches of rain, making 2016 perhaps the wettest graduation since 1992, when .13 inches of rain fell from the procession to the end of the ceremony.

Joe Wilensky/Cornell Chronicle

Students navigate through puddles on their way to commencement.

In 1905, Cornell Alumni News reported the “elements entered into a conspiracy to spoil the Commencement … but despite the rain and flood, the class of 1905 was graduated in pretty much the usual way.” Rain forced cancellation of the academic procession in 1928, but diplomas were handed out by President Livingston Farrand at Bailey Hall. Misting rain prevented the 1955 procession, and degrees were conferred by President Deane W. Malott in Barton Hall.

Saturday’s Senior Convocation featured scorching temperatures. It was 86 degrees Fahrenheit when actor James Franco gave his speech; a few hours later, during other weekend events, the thermometer hit 90. In the last 30 years, Ithaca’s temperatures in May have hit 90 degrees only four times. This was the fifth. “Temperatures above 90 degrees in May are quite rare,” said Eggleston.

Aiming to keep the campus comfortable for families during the array of weather, hundreds of staff performed critical services. Mary Opperman, vice president and chief human resources officer, recognized the staff members’ work.

“The hundreds of Cornell volunteers – and staff who worked many, many hours – went above and beyond this year,” she said. “They spent their weekend away from their own families, were very hot, very wet and ultimately very tired, but they came through so that our students and their families had the best possible experience. In the face of such weather adversity, we appreciate their efforts all the more. I want to thank them, as they are true troopers. And I want to give a special shout-out to Connie Mabry [director of University Commencement Events] who makes Cornell Commencement happen every year.”