The Weather Dilemma

Who could have ever imagined that we would be greeted with such a surprise on our first Spring Semester? Today is the first Thursday back at Virginia Tech, which means I had to wake up extra early to catch the shuttle for the Math Emporium orientation at 8:00. Waking up to cold weather is definitely not something that I expected, especially since over the past few days, all I needed was a sweatshirt to go out the door. It was one of the coldest mornings I have ever experienced in Blacksburg. I have always heard rumors that it is cold, but I never expected the wind chills to be so cold that it will turn my hands, face and ears into human popsicles even with gloves and earmuffs on. The morning started out with some drizzling rain, but the weather soon did a 180 and turned to sleet and snow.

My interpretation of "inclement" weather has changed since High School. Back in the day, whenever the weatherman announced that there was a possibility of a snowstorm coming up, I would probably neglect my homework for a bit and refresh the county homepage every 30 seconds to see if there is a delay; or if we are lucky, a closing! Being from Northern Virginia, where snow is considered "rare" in comparison to Blacksburg, we get out of school for only one to three inches of snow. However, during winter break, when all the high school students were out of school because of the twenty plus inches they received, I started to get jealous. Not because they got days off of school (They had a week as opposed to us having a whole month), but because I am beginning to turn into a "real" adult that no longer wishes and gets excited for snow. When I was little, I would be doing snow dances to get out of school, but my parents would always tell me; "Why would you wish for snow? Snow is bad news!" At that time, I would always think they were crazy for not liking snow, but after this winter break I am beginning to understand what they mean. I started to really hate snow because school closings no longer apply to me and I am stuck inside the house. Plus, I am now confronted with the responsibility to go out there to shovel and the reality that snow is actually a really a terrible thing. It seems like over the break, the thrill of going sledding and building snowmen just went away because snow was actually preventing me from doing things I want to do.

So today, when I was confronted again with this natural dilemma, I realized that I have a new perspective on it. I was told that Virginia Tech secretly has these hot water pipes below the cement so when it does snow or ice, it automatically melts because the ground is too hot for the precipitation to stick. I came into the semester thinking, "Great, we will never have any school closings." However, today, I think its fair to say that I have been proven wrong; the snow and ice does stick! And also, we DO get closings.

So to make a long story short, today I came up with the conclusion that weather does drive you crazy, regardless of it being very beautiful and different from a normal day. While I was walking to my classes, I was questioning what the sky is dropping down towards us. it looks like rain to the naked eye, but as I was closing my umbrella, I realized that it was actually small pieces of ice! I don't think I was ever outside when there was sleet, and one thing is for sure, it is very cold, dreading, and not to mention, pretty dangerous. So I guess the moral of this story is, snow is fun; to an extent, and I am not old enough YET to rule out the fact that snow could be very beneficial. Let's just hope this good feeling continues on for a couple more years or even tomorrow- No classes please!?