Erie’s long winters not for me

Samantha Weber, Staff Writer

Erie winters are definitely different from anything I have ever known. Personally, I am from Pittsburgh, PA, so I definitely am no stranger to snow. But, back home we never consistently have this much snow. We would always get various amounts of snow and then it would melt away after a few days and before another snowstorm could hit us.

In Erie, it is simply too cold and, from what I have experienced so far, it seems like there are never more than two days in a row where it does not snow at all. I would not necessarily say the Erie winters are awful in terms of the snow, but the cold is what I find to be unbearable. The snow and cold I can handle by wearing layers, but if you throw wind into the mix as well, then it becomes more difficult to counteract the harsh winds we get up on the hill. There really is not much you can do to prevent the wind from making you colder, but someone should invent something that eases the harshness that the wind has on one’s body. A bonus of having to wear facemasks is it helps keep the wind off the bottom of one’s face, even if it only helps a little bit.

Another reason I am not particularly a huge fan of Erie in the winter is because they do extraordinarily little to make the roads safe to travel on. The main roads are relatively clear, but the side roads are still just a sheet of ice. If you want people to be able to go out and help the community, then you have to allow them to do it in a safe fashion. At least put some salt down if you cannot properly clear the roads because then that can start to break through the ice and make it safer for people to drive over. I guess

I am fortunate enough that there is not as much snow as, say, in Canada, because I honestly do not know if I would be able to handle that much snow. I definitely understand how some people cannot handle Erie weather especially if they are from somewhere that does not experience severe winters. After I committed to Mercyhurst, I heard about the lake effect snow that falls every winter. I guess one part of the winter I am not looking forward to is when spring is closer and the weather does not change at all. Back home it would be a little warmer at least and then you could start to do more outside activities again, but I heard that in Erie that rarely happens and that we could still have snow when we move out for the summer. Let’s hope for an early and warm spring!