Students from more than 100 of the 300 schools that attended the tournament, which ended yesterday, were stranded in Cambridge after flights and trains were cancelled.

Some extended their stay in Harvard dorms, while others checked into area hotels.

Most of the debaters who will remain in Cambridge hailed from Florida or Texas, tournament director Sherry A. Hall said, and the snow caught some by surprise.

Southerner Krystle O. Sims, who travelled along with teammates from Riverside High School in New Orleans, had never seen snow before but grew quickly tired of the powdery white stuff.

“It was fun for the first ten minutes, but once the ice crystals got into your eye, it’s not cute anymore,” she said. “It builds up so fast, like Legos.”

The Riverside students said they planned to spend yesterday evening trying to eat dinner at the Cheers restaurant, and enjoying an amenity of their Kendall Square hotel—the hot tub.

Their fellow Southerners said they were unprepared for the havoc the snow played with suits and dress shoes.

“I didn’t know it could melt so fast and ruin clothes,” said Orlando native Patrick D. Brown. “I’m looking forward to a long day at Logan Airport.”

Debaters from Stuyvesant High School, whose home state of New York received over two feet of snow last night, took respite from the cold playing foosball and pool in Loker Commons.

“We tried to make the best of it,” said Leah A. Rabinowitz.

“It was so cold that we took the snow inside to have a snowball fight,” said teammate Shanai T. Watson. “That’s why the ground [in Loker] is so wet.”

—Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.