Cold Snap

It takes me 95 seconds to walk from my front door to the bus stop across from my apartment building. The walk across the Quad from the Illini Union Bookstore to Krannert Center takes me five minutes and seventeen seconds. If I catch the bus transfer at parking lot E-14 just right, I shave two and a half minutes off of my walk by catching the Gold bus. Wright St. and Armory to the Music Building? Three and a half minutes. Timing these days is everything.

Yesterday morning I made my way across the Quad to catch a bus at the bookstore and a group of students was handing out free hot chocolate to passers by. Many people stopped and graciously accepted a generous sized styrofoam cup brimming with the piping beverage. Others, not wanting to break stride, didn't even give the hot chocolate a glance and continued with brisk strides toward their next destination. This town does not do well with cold weather.

Now, granted, -12 degrees is cold no matter where you are but locals will tell you that this winter has been historically miserable. One glance at this headline from the local newspaper speaks volumes: "Officially, December Was Downright Wintry." Apparently the month of January was the coldest in this area since 1994. Urbana has recorded eight inches of snow above their average yearly total already and the plows are still digging out from the winter storm of one week ago. Woe to the pedestrian on some of the lesser traveled thoroughfares. Last night the city of Champaign finally cleared some of the massive amounts of snow that have built up on the sidewalks in downtown.

Thankfully, for the locals, we are going to warm up next week. I guess it's supposed to be near 50 degrees by Wednesday. By the end of February the average high for this time of year in Central Illinois is 44 degrees. Spring is just around the corner. Although for this Wisconsinite it seems odd to begin to usher in a new season at a time of year when I typically am driving across Lake Superior from Bayfield to Madeline Island on a highway of ice.