Winter is Coming!

Yesterday evening, my friend Luis and I were returning to the college union after walking our friend Juli to the south side dorms after dinner. The sun had set, and the evening had become quite chilly! The wind was howling around the corners of buildings, and something cold and wet was falling sideways from the sky. “Ugh, cold rain is the worst,” Luis said as we rushed past the townhouses with our heads down. I stopped and looked at how the precipitation was passing through the light cast by a lamppost; it appeared far more chunky than regular rain, and it began to hurt my face as it fell. Extending a hand, I realized that it was, in fact, hail that was falling from the sky! I hadn’t seen hail since the spring, but because Luis is from Long Island, his experience with hail is severely limited. We discussed the weather predictions for the coming days: Friday the temperature is supposed to be in the mid sixties, and on Sunday it might even snow. I am from Syracuse, so I consider myself to be quite accustomed to the crazy weather variations that are common here. Luis, however, has never even gone sledding, which was a common childhood (and teenage) occurrence for me. An intriguing conversation ensued about the local climates in our respective regions of New York. It’ll be wild to see everyone’s reactions to the copious amounts of snow we’ll be receiving this winter. Let’s hope everyone packed warm clothes!          — Vizma Leimanis