<p>"Oh no! It snows and is cloudy! I couldn’t possibly live in such a place! "</p>
<p>It’s neither the snow nor the clouds that are troublesome. It’s the 25 mph winds combined with subzero temperatures that tear the warmth right off your face and it feels like your ears and skin are about to rip off. It’s the fact that weather at Cornell changes so quickly within minutes. I’ve seen it switch between a bright sunny (but cold) day to snowy and dark about 6 times in the span of 4 hours. It’s the fact that during the winter, there is snow every single day, all the time. Sure it’s beautiful the first 40 times its snowing. After that… not so much. It becomes dreary. Even when it is sunny here, there are flurries.</p>
<p>One time it looked pretty sunny outside and I didn’t think I would need to keep my hands outside and this was before I realized how unpredictable the weather is. So I didn’t take any gloves and I went to Ivy Room to buy some quesadillas to take back to my dorm. Well, on my way back, since I was using both hands to hold the food the entire time, I was pretty close to getting frostbite. I couldn’t feel my fingers for several minutes and I had to nurse them under lukewarm water to start the blood flowing again and even then my fingers were swollen. I’m not saying this to whine, I am merely sharing an anecdote. Was I not prepared? Sure. That was my mistake. But I’ve noticed you guys have been understating how bad the weather is many threads and I think that is misleading to people who haven’t been here during the winters. When prospective students come in April for Cornell Days, they are seeing Cornell at its best weather, so if they are from a warm area, they will not understand how cold it is until the winter of their freshman year.</p>