To Brrr or Not To Brrr—That Is The Question

As cold weather moves in, it becomes easier to tell where people are from.

Students from states or countries with consistent freezing temperatures, like Matthew Calamoneri, a graduate student from New Jersey, find West Texas winter to be relatively mild.

Sarah Self-Walbrick/The Hub@TTU

Calamoneri said it was not unusual to see temperatures drop below zero in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he earned his undergraduate degree.

Calamoneri said he finds it absurd that some people have broken out their winter garb as temperatures have dropped below 60 degrees in the Texas Panhandle.

“When I see people bundled up right now, I think it’s crazy,” Calamoneri said. “In my opinion, the weather is pretty perfect.”

On the other side of the world, in Bolivia, November marks the beginning of summer.

Bruna Boland, a junior industrial engineering major from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, said winter is practically nonexistent in this region of her home country. The high on Nov. 15, 2015 was 91 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Little wonder that Boland is shocked every year when the cold winds start to blow in Lubbock. She said she often has a hard time adjusting to the weather after spending the winter break at home and tends to gets sick upon her return to Texas.

“Lubbock has an awful, awful winter,” Boland said. “I can’t get used to the weather.”

She is also often disturbed by the sight of students she believes are underdressed for the season.

“In my class last year, people were still wearing shorts and sandals in December,” Boland said. “I wanted to yell ‘Put something on!'”

Cutter Martin, a senior electronic media and communication major and weatherman at KCBD in Lubbock, said the weather in West Texas may be unpredictable, but other cities have erratic weather as well.

Nicole Molter/The Hub@TTU

“An inch of rain is a big deal in the Hub City,” Martin said. “In Houston? Not so much. It’s all about perception. What one person sees as ‘crazy’ may not be so crazy to someone else.”

This fall has been unusually warm, Martin said. The current jet stream and El Nino have caused the warmer temperatures so far, but a wet and snowy winter is expected to follow soon, although a precise prognosis is impossible.

Keeping up with the current forecasts Martin said, is the best way to be prepared for the winter.

“We have computers and apps everywhere, in addition to the more traditional mediums like television and radio,” Martin said. “Weather forecast information is everywhere; we just have to make an effort to seek it.”