I thought we were doing well this year in Grand Forks. Very little snow through the middle of November and the temperature was actually bearable. Last year snow hit the first week of October and winter never looked back.

I grew up in Montana and dealt with snow and cold. But Grand Forks was an anomaly to me. The bitter cold temperatures that lasted weeks. The unforgiving blizzards that seemed to hit us every weekend. The amount of snow. All of it amazed me.

But this year I thought we were doing alright. We had a little snow and the temperature dropped right before Thanksgiving, but it rebounded by the Friday after Thanksgiving and I thought we would make it into December relatively easily.

And then the snow hit. And then the cold hit. Last week was miserable. I’m guessing it has been a week since the temperature in Grand Forks has been above zero with the wind chill.

Classes were cancelled last Wednesday night, but in my opinion they should have been cancelled all day on Wednesday. Between the wind, snow, and bitter cold temperatures, no one should have been made to go outside. The roads were not plowed and were extremely dangerous to drive on, and it was impossible to walk outside and be able to see straight.

I understand students need to go to class, but I think the university needs to make sure they are keeping the students’ safety in mind when weather like this comes to town.

Hopefully, the cold streak snaps soon and it warms up to above zero! In the mean time, we will all keep trudging through the snow and cold daily to get to our last couple weeks of class for the semester.

Good luck to everyone on finals and Merry Christmas!