by EMILY BEZERRA Staff Writer
Over the past five months, the Northeast has experienced some ridiculous weather changes – Hurricane Sandy, winter storm Nemo, and overall severe climate changes have rocked the Eastern Coast.
It all began with Hurricane Sandy. Also known as “Super Storm Sandy” and “The Nor’Easter,” this hurricane definitely did some damage – $74 million worth of damage, to be exact.
Hurricane Sandy ripped up the New Jersey coastline with 80 MPH winds on a Monday night. Thirteen feet of seawater washed into New York City, which flooded its tunnels, subway stations, and electrical systems. Sixteen deaths were blamed on the storm, bringing a halt to the presidential campaign only a week before Election Day. If that is not chaos, I do not know what is.
From October 22-31, most of Monroe was in a state of disarray. Everyone lost power, but, unfortunately, not everyone had a generator to supply back-up power. If your family was like mine, you were having candle-lit dinners and sleeping under multiple blankets at night.
“Sandy was an awful experience at first because I didn’t have a generator. My house was freezing and there was NOTHING to do. Thankfully my dad went out and got a generator so I had heat and television for the last few days of it,” says sophomore Melanie Conlon.
The past few weeks have been especially cold and rainy, with temperatures as low as 0°F. However, winter storm Nemo technically only took place between February 7-10. Friday, the heavy rainfall that began in the morning turned to sleet during the day and snow by night. The hightest recorded amount of snowfall was 40 inches in Connecticut. Fortunately for us in Monroe, we awoke to an eight-inch blanket of snow covering the outdoors Saturday morning.
“I can’t stand the cold or the rain. Every morning when I go to my bus I get soaking wet and I go numb. It’s ridiculous,” says sophomore Brina Haugland.
Anyone who has not lost a sense of reality has realized the climate changes taking place these past months. Some days it is 40°F, others it is -3°F. Events such as Hurricane Sandy have everything to do with the climate because it affects the moisture of the atmosphere, which is a big factor in storms.
New Jersey has stayed strong during these times, but the question remains – is “Nemo” the last of this bizarre weather? It is safe to say that we are all hoping it is, because I do not know how much more of this I can take. I will lose faith in Mother Nature if I ever go another day without electricity.
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