By Nami Nagaoka
According to USA Today, spring officially arrived on March 20. But in Youngstown, Ohio, there is still sporadic cold weather.
There are many students, staff and faculty at Youngstown State University that do not originate from places that experience snow or cold weather.
Ahmed Award, a junior majoring in electrical engineering, came from Qatar. Ahmed said he has never seen snow in his home country, where it’s either very dry or humid.
“I generally like the weather here, except when it’s too windy and it’s cold,” Award said. “I prefer the warmer weather.”
Award said he often finds himself wearing two pairs of pants and two pairs of socks to combat the cold.
In Qatar, people wear hoodies in the winter — gloves and hats aren’t necessary. Award said they only have rain in the winter and it is only for one or two weeks.
In the very early morning, the temperature reaches its lowest, 8 °C (46.4 °F) in Qatar. In the summer, it climbs to 30 to 50 °C (86 to 122 °F) during the day there.
Patrick Durrell, an astronomy professor from YSU, is from Chemainus, British Columbia, located on the west coast of Canada.
“It is not the very cold [in Chemainus], like 0 °C or -5 °C (32 to 41 °F) in the winter, the warm days would be 25 °C (77 °F),” Patrick Durrell said. “It is a little bit different [from the other areas of Canada].”
He said they have rainier days in Chemainus than Youngstown.
“I always dress up in layers, have a big hat and the tick boots when I go to the cold places,” Patrick Durrell said.
Patrick’s wife, Katherine Durrell, is from Moncton, Canada. Katherine Durrell said the coldest she’s seen is about -30 °C (-22 °F) and the warmest is 28 ° C (82.4 °F).
“[The weather is] generally more mild in winter, and I kinda like the weather here,” Katherine Durrell said.
She said she tries to stay inside during the cold weather and prefers to venture out during the summer.
“We got 5 feet 3 inches of snow in under two days when I was a junior in college,” Katherine Durrell said.
Regardless of where people grew up or originate from, each person must adjust to the environment in Youngstown.