According to weather-guru-groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, there will be an extended winter. After emerging from his hole and spotting his shadow on Feb. 2, winter in America will stick for another six more weeks.
Winter will now end on Mar. 20, right when students return to campus after a week-long spring break. This winter has been a mixed bag when it comes to the forecast, some days have felt particularly warm while others have been notably cold.
Eilleen Harrington, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, said that this week has not been bad. Although she said her Midwest origins has made her more used to the cold than others.
So far the coldest day of winter 2021-2022 was recorded Jan. 26 when Milwaukee reached temperatures of -5 degrees Fahrenheit, but the record coldest of -26 degrees Fahrenheit in 1996 freezes out the competition.
Although technically not in winter, December saw some warm days reaching temperatures as high as 68 degrees Fahrenheit, which matched previous records for December in Milwaukee set in 2001.
Kiontis Gallion, a first-year in the college of Communications, said he has experienced many winters in his day. BEing originally from Milwaukee but moving around from Mississippi to South Carolina, he said he has seen both sides of the climate coin.
“I feel like it’s good and bad, people get sick from it. When I walk around outside I see people coughing like strep throat coughing, so I feel people should put their masks on for walking around. For me I use a scarf around my mouth,” Gallion said.
Cold season starts up during the fall and winter periods. Although the common cold is believed come from frigid temperatures, it is just a virus which spreads quicker when everyone is indoors. But the cold weather does dry out your nose making it easier to pick up the virus. The best way to combat the cold is to drink plenty of fluids and a good night sleep. On average adults get two to four colds every year.
But for Danny Smith, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, there is no such thing as the cold season. Smith spends time in the winter “living the eight-year-old dream,” he said, throwing around snowballs and making snow angels.
“Personally I’ve loved it [the cold]. I’m a big snow guy so we’ve had flurries the last two nights so I’ve been taking laps around campus sliding around, eating some snowflakes,” Smith said.
Smith said he compares having more weeks of winter to when you smell something you really like and you perk up with excitement. Smith does wish there was more snow on campus.
“I might be a little crazy but I will take the five plus inches, I love it. I wanna be high stepping, belly flopping, I know it’s chaotic for the rest of campus but I’m all for it,” Smith said.
But Stephanie Waldschmidt, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said they have mixed feelings about the snow. Waldschmidt said they appreciate the beauty of the flakes but have different feelings when it turns to slush around campus.
“It makes me a little nervous because I always think I am going to fall,” Waldschmidt said. “It’s not as bad as it was last year, because I used to live in O’Donnell [Hall] and the steps were not ever done, so you would always be slipping.” so true
What Waldschmidt said they enjoy the most of the winter is drinking hot chocolate and sitting outside. Every season they said they go to Lake Michigan and take a photo of a down like fallen? tree branch, enjoying how it changes with the ice and seasonal conditions.
The most accumulation of snow that occurred in Milwaukee was the blizzard of 1947, which saw more than 20 inches of snowfall, shutting down much of the city. Winds up to 60 mph whipped the snow around and covered everything in a white blanket.
Phil suggests the shivery snow of seasonal storms will stay, but considering he’s only been correct 40% of the time in the past ten years. The weather is all up in the air.
This story was written by Connor Baldwin. He can be reached at [email protected]
