Through Rain and Snow and Sleet and Hail

While public schools and other colleges across the country took Martin Luther King Jr. Day off, we celebrated our return to Cornell with our first day of spring semester and 22 degree weather.  That was just the beginning of a string of days (over a week) with average temperatures hovering under ten degrees and windchill bringing temperatures down to feeling like -10 at worst or 0 at best.

The waterfall froze over, as did the dam and lake.  One of the facts that Cornell likes to advertise is that students walk past a waterfall every day on their way to class, which is true for north campus residents. . . . It’s a manmade waterfall, but it’s still true.

The dam by Beebe Lake

It snowed at least every other day for over a week, leading to about four inches of accumulation on the grass and a muddy slop on all the sidewalks.  That was fun to walk through at eight in the morning.  Almost as much fun as hauling my suitcase up three flights of stairs.  Not happening again.

Since then, it’s warmed up.  The campus got to thaw out over the past couple of days, and all the snow and the waterfall melted.  Monday morning, it was snowing when I woke up, there was hail on the way to my first class, and it started raining before lunch.  So we’ve had some interesting weather, and I enjoyed our fifty degrees here on Wednesday.

Before people in colder regions get too jealous, don’t worry.  The forecast promises us a return to subfreezing temperatures and snow.  Can’t wait for everything to freeze into a giant sheet of ice.

Come to Cornell; we have a waterfall!!