Minnesota Weather

If there is one thing Minnesota would be especially famous for, it'd probably be it's weather. The extreme shifts from -40 degree wind chills in January and the 90 degree hot August days, and everything in between. It seems that perhaps (knock on wood) that spring has come early this year - as I slipped on melting ice this morning, skinning both of my knees. Either this is a goodbye embrace from winter, or a rough welcome from spring. Regardless, I am satisfied with the fact that I can walk to class without my cheekbones freezing, even if it means I will be limping due to the bandages on my maimed legs.

The weather here has made Minnesota a sort of awe-factor for many. We're known for being bad-ass about the snow (unless you're the Minnesota Vikings) and for wearing shorts and sandals in 40 degree temps. Which, if you're from Florida might seem insane. But trust me - 40 degrees feels really fricken warm after sub-zero Arctic winds.

Minnesota is also (apparently) not known for being very fashion conscious. If you live in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, then this is not so true. But when the wind is so cold that the very jelly in your eyes begins to glaze over with a sheen of ice, then how you look simply is the last thing on your mind. Thus sweatshirts and bulky jackets are very popular. And Uggs... I know Uggs were apparently meant for beachwear or something bizarre like that. Here, they suffice to get many girls from one side of campus to the next in the middle of a Snowpocalypse.

Why do I bother to comment on Minnesota weather? Because, geographically, we deal with shit that some other states simply don't. If you took the aquatic elements of most Great Lake states (considering Minnesota is one of them), mixed that with the Great Plains, the forests of New York and the East Coast, and threw in some muggy days that states like Georgia would be more apt to have, then that's a rough blend of the seasonal spectrum here. If we had mountains or more tectonic plate stuff, things would be every crazier, with Colorado's mudslides and California's earthquakes. Fortunately, that's not the case. However, we do have weather fluctuation that can drive some people absolutely nuts. Two weeks ago, it was about 5 degrees during the day. Now it's 36. Next week, it could be snowing (I hope not). Or it could be in the 50s. Hard to say, really. Yeah, other states have this sort of meteorological phenomenon (as my meteorologist friend would tell me). Because, in Minnesota, amongst all the wetlands and lakes and prairie (and suburbs and metropolis as well) we don't really care if other states get snow too or get flooding and severe thunderstorms. Here, we feel it's different - there's an added sense of drama. It doesn't just snow, it blizzards. It doesn't just rain, it storms. That's not to say we don't get totally mundane weather (we totally do; our meteorologist just love being drama queens). We just regard weather differently than I think other states do. Being from Indiana originally, people flip out when an inch of snow falls. Here, it snows and we complain, but things go on as normal. We could get a foot of snow and the likelihood of school being closed is quite unlikely. Culturally, weather plays a huge factor into what makes Minnesotans. Without it, we'd act less like bad-asses. And probably stop trying to one-up Wisconsin every other minute.