By Brendan Kaufman, Staff Writer
As the winter season finally gets its foot in the door this year, the first snow of the year hit Long Island during the first weeks of January. Around two inches of snow fell in Nassau and Suffolk county on Jan. 16 and the impact was felt throughout the area.
LIU students have a variety of opinions on snow in general, with sophomore math major Anthony Velasquez not having the highest opinion of the cold weather.
“Snow is nice at first, but then it becomes really annoying,” Velasquez stated. “It’s especially annoying when it all freezes over and becomes ice and impacts the roads and you end up nearly driving into a lake.”
This sentiment is shared by more than just Velasquez; senior computer science major Felipe De Figueiredo shares a similar thought process.
“The snow wasn’t too bad, but snow in general is kinda not very good,” he said. “I’m not too big on the cold weather in general and snow just kinda adds to that, especially when it turns to ice and gets all slippery.”
The general opinion of snow on campus is a bit sour as many students complain of the problems that snow causes rather than the potential positives it may bring. However, this recent snowfall seemed to have caused more problems than usual.
Velasquez spoke of a dangerous situation that nearly occurred due to the recent snowfall.
“So I usually take the back way to campus and I was on my way here when I got into a bit of a jam,” he stated. “The plows didn’t clear the snow properly and there was ice all over the road. I was driving 40 miles per hour and on the curve, I almost flew into the lake and turned my car over. Not a fun experience for anyone involved.”
Slipping remains a common theme throughout this recent snowfall as De Figueiredo also spoke up about problems caused by the storm.
“I slipped and nearly fell on my leg in a weird way last week,” he said. “I was just trying to leave my house and there was a little bit of ice under the door and it was just a bit too much for me to handle. I’m fine, but it could’ve been a little nasty for me.”
Roads and sidewalks being covered with ice have been the largest source of issues caused by the snowfall. The combination of dangerous conditions and potentially not being able to see the ice due to either black ice being present or ice hidden under inches of snow, can cause accidents for both people and vehicles. De Figueiredo noticed a clear correlation between the two.
“Everytime it snows, they usually just put salt out on the roads and it kinda helps,” he said. “But I feel like it doesn’t really do enough because I always see, like, 500 car crashes whenever it snows, so obviously the snow and ice have to have something to do with that. I personally haven’t been in one of those, but it’s scary to think about.”
Velasquez also brought up how much the snow can affect road and walking conditions.
“Obviously, I already talked about how I almost ended up in the lake,” he said. “But that kind of thing happens to a lot of people whenever it snows. The snow just always makes the roads all messy, and I don’t understand how we haven’t figured out how to make the snow less of an issue.”
The issues caused by the snow have been pinpointed and observed by students on campus. The question of whether or not more snow will hit the island lingers on some people’s minds, but Velasquez thinks that more snow may not be in the cards.
“No, I don’t think more snow is coming,” he stated. “It hasn’t really snowed much in recent years and the arctic vortex changed. The arctic vortex thing isn’t a circle anymore, as it comes in waves. So, instead of snow, we’re just gonna get a lot of rain. So, no more snow.”
De Figueiredo shares a similar thought process on whether or not more snow is coming.
“I don’t think we’ll be seeing any more snow soon,” he said. “I think Long Island has been all snowed out, and it hasn’t really snowed much recently at all. I hate snow anyway, so I think this is a good thing all around.”
The first snow of the season has fallen, and while the effects of the snowfall may be slowly fading away with the warmer weather, the impact that the snow left on people still remains.
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