Late Show for Snow

It's December in Buffalo, but until today, the ground was still hard, it was still light jacket weather, and the lake was still in liquid form.

Love it or hate it, snow is a trademark characteristic of Buffalo, and students around UB have been marveling at the lack of it, until they woke up today to see the ground covered in white.

Jeff Brunskill, a graduate student in the geography department, said although Buffalo has a reputation for blizzards by Halloween, a warm early December is nothing out of the ordinary.

"It's not uncommon to have a warm period in early December," he said. "It just hasn't been cold enough to get any lake effect snow. We've had lake effect precipitation over the last three weeks, but it's been in the form of rain."

One thing is for sure - even more snow, and lots of it, will arrive sooner or later. Some said they aren't pleased with the prospect of frozen precipitation.

"I hate the snow," said Shannon Groff, a freshman undecided major and Clarence native. "It's cold here forever, and I'm not really one for winter sports. Maybe I like it on Christmas Day, but that's about it."

Students who haven't been as weathered by many Buffalo winters said they still marvel at the white, fluffy novelty.

"I love the snow, to tell you the truth," said Adeel Khan, a senior civil engineering major originally from the United Arab Emirates. "You feel bad when it's cold outside and you don't want to go anywhere, but it starts snowing, it's really peaceful."

"I used to live in St. Petersburg, Florida, and we didn't have it there," said Anthony Orlowski, a freshman biology major. "I love the snow. My friends and I will throw snowballs at cars, play football in the snow, stuff like that."

"I'm looking forward to enjoying Buffalo and all the snow it has to offer," said Jessica Miller, a freshman economics major. "I have friends here willing to have snowball fights with me."

Even a few Buffalo natives said they are excited about that first winter dusting.

"It's a little nicer than the bare trees," said Nicolas Jackson, a freshman computer science major. "This mild weather is nice because if it starts out mild, it's going to get bad, and if it starts out bad, it's only going to get worse."

While most UB students probably aren't old enough to remember the infamous blizzard of 1977, many remember all too well Thanksgiving weekend in 2000, when Buffalo was hit with over two feet of snow in a matter of hours.

"My family couldn't come up when it was snowing," Groff said. "My sister's friend stayed three days with us because we couldn't get out of the house."

"I loved it so much that I went outside just wearing a shirt and pants and I played in it," Khan said.

"It took me two hours to get four blocks on the bus, and of course in high school they wont let you off the bus," Jackson said.

One Schussmeisters ski club member said this year's lack of snow had the potential to affect the ski season.

"Our ski season starts either December first or when it snows," said Margaret Siller, business manager for Schussmeisters. "Last year it didn't snow until around Christmastime."

This season, which runs until March 31, students will be hitting the slopes at Kissing Bridge and Holiday Valley.

"Ski resorts need a base of eight to 12 inches, and it needs to be below freezing for them to make snow," Siller said. "It will snow though. This is Western New York."