Winter Term Has Arrived, But What About Winter?

Words from the CoF SLC:

As I sit warmly with the sun basking through the window, I am grateful that the sun shines and the skies are a glorious blue. It’s chilly outside, students are bundled up in jackets, gloves, and hats. I’ve noticed fresh buds are forming on the bushes on the Corvallis campus along Jefferson Way. Oh Spring… Then it hits me. It’s barely mid-January! Where has Winter gone? Did it arrive? Did I miss it?!

The climate has shifted out of what we have thought was our “normal”. It’s not getting as cold, not getting as wet. Not here in the valley or up to the mountains. Winter is beginning to escape us and our plants are confused, just as much as the people. The closer you get to the mountain passes, you anticipate the fresh snow around the corner, or maybe the next one, and are saddened to see the remnants of storm from over a week ago barely holding on in the shade of the trees. Where did it all go? –Written by: Destiny Pauls

The Herald and News published a brief article about Oregon’s snowpack showing that is below normal again and data shows that the state is reaching historically normal levels less often. “It’s pretty clear that the idea of what’s normal is shifting, and that we’ve just become accustomed to these bad or below average years,” said Kathie Dello, a climate scientist with Oregon State University. If you’d like to know more or read the article itself, click HERE.

Need a few helpful hints to get you back in the saddle at OSU? Here are some ways you can prepare for Winter term and beyond!