Whether the Weather

Photo by Alaina Burris

Weather or not, here it comes!

After living in KCMO/KCK for a few years now, I’ve gotten used to the weather here. In the winter we have something called wind and this wind makes it around 20 degrees colder. We also get a lot of ice here too. I know these things, so I know how to prepare for it. But some people had no idea what the weather was like here, so they were blindsided by the temperatures that we have experienced these past couple days.

I went around asking some of the freshmen and new transfers how they felt about the weather and how they had to change it.

To start my ‘trip around the US,’ I began in Texas, with freshman transfer Edward Mermea. 

When asked what he expected when coming up to Kansas, weather wise, he said “Not this, you know I thought it’d be cooler than home because we’re further up north, but damn! It’s cold!” I asked him how he prepared for the difference in weather. “Oh I didn’t do good, I brought two hoodies, and I wear both of them everyday, and you know what, it’s not even the cold sometimes, it’s the wind!”
Mermea also experienced something here that he doesn’t see too much in Texas: ice.
“You know there’s a lot of people here from Texas, and we don't see much snow, but the ice, the ice broke,” Mermea said. “I can't tell you how many times I’ve already slipped on the ice just walking to my classes.”

Then I made a jump northwest to Colorado, asking the same questions to freshman Zeth Reed.

Reed “didn’t expect it to be as bad as it is, unfortunately I didn’t prepare too well, I brought some cool looking hoodies, but I have to layer up when I go out. I also wear my ski mask during practice to keep my face warm.” 

Similar to Mermea, the wind seemed to be a problem, so much so that Reed “had to go and get a new jacket to adjust to the temperature change.”

In my last stop, I went all the way up to New England, where I spoke with freshmen and Baltimore native, Gavin Thompson. Again with the same three questions, he “expected the wind, Kansas is notorious for cold wind because it’s flat. Baltimore gets cold and wind, but the wind chill here is way worse than those back home.” Unlike the other two, Gavin prepped a little better, “I made sure to bring some jackets, and I knew I’d have to bring windbreakers, sense Kansas is so freaking windy.”

So whether you’re from the south, northeast or up in the rockies, the weather here seems to surprise everyone, and freeze you till you shake. So make sure you layer up, and be wary of the weather. Because whether the weather, the midwest does not forgive.