From late November to late March and maybe even early April, the weather getting colder is to be expected from an average Pennsylvanian winter. However, last week, things got a little too cold when a polar vortex hit the Midwest and even reaching our region.
A polar vortex is a low pressure area, filled with cold air. When the North Pole expands, all that cold air gets sent down to us.
This polar vortex has certainly put a wrench in a lot of people’s plans. CBS reported that 2,300 flights were canceled due to cold weather. Chicago, Michigan, and Wisconsin declared states of emergencies. Chicago was hit the worst, with -50 degree weather that according to the national weather service, can cause frostbite in just 5 minutes.
Even Bucks got a taste of the extreme cold weather. A day after the school closed down at 6 due to possible rain and snow, all campuses ran on a 2 hour delay on Jan. 31, as weather was in the single digits that morning.
With all this cold weather, how have students here at Bucks been handling the cold air?
“It sucks, but it really doesn’t affect what I’m doing”, said business major Haley Korabik. Computer networking Major Steven Sanchez also gave his thoughts on this cold air.
“You’re gonna need to wear something heavy, unless you want to become a Popsicle.”
“The winter weather can be a season of snow and having fun, but can also freeze a person.” said Draven Zhou from Bensalem.
Students may also have to keep an eye out on the Bucks website as well as Canvas. In this kind of weather it’s possible that classes can be canceled. That was what happened on Tuesday, Jan. 29, when both Newtown and Lower bucks closed at 6 o’clock, due to possible rain and snow that was going to start around that time. While we didn’t get any snow, we did get rain, and thanks to the extreme cold weather, it made things very slippery.
Bucks students seemed to not mind that much about school closing down or classes getting canceled due to the winter weather, and they certainly knew what they were going to do if this was the case.
Along with suggesting that people make sure they really bundle up, Steven Sanchez also said he would do homework if classes got canceled due to the weather. A good idea since professors would have to assign make up work to make up for the missed classes. Ryan of communications also said the same thing, along with adding that he would do some laundry.
It might suck, but we’re nearing the end of winter. Daylight savings time is March 10, and the first days of spring are approaching. I think 24 year old early education major Joli Edwards said it best: “I’m ready for summer”, and I’m sure many other students at Bucks are as well.