Buffalo Broke a Record

As I sit at my desk early Thursday morning, the beautiful 65 degree day of Wednesday has long past. I hear the wet wind whipping at my window and according to my IPhone, today will have only a high of 52, and a low of 27 degrees. For many, Wednesday was the highlight of their week. Kids did not have to wear their heavy winter jackets to school, no one needed to pull out a shovel or snow blower, and I know my mother was certainly thankful for a smooth ride to work this morning. But we are avoiding the giant pink elephant in the room. Yesterday was January 30th. According to http://www.wunderground.com:

Normal temperature for Buffalo NY on January 31st: 18  -  32 degrees
Record for Buffalo NY on January 31st:                   - 11  -  66 degrees
                                                                               (1920)        (2013)  

There is a problem with the fact that I am wearing Toms shoes in the picture posted above instead of my snow boots, as well as the fact that the snow has all melted and green grass is prominent across the quad. My environmental sociology professor (Erin Robinson) mentioned how tulips in her neighborhood were beginning to pop out of the ground this morning and she "just wanted to tap them back in...it is not time to bloom yet!" The signs for global warming are here, and have been here for some time- some people just do not recognize the repercussions of having one nice day when we are supposed to be in the dead of winter. I mean, even someone as environmentally conscience as myself still appreciated the pleasant weather on Wednesday, even though I know how harmful it was to our surrounding ecosystems.

While observing the quad yesterday, the overall mood seemed to be calm and distant. I was surprised that I  saw less than a dozen people walk through the quad from 1:45-2:00 pm since everyone in my earlier classes had been ecstatic about "how nice it is outside." I hate that expression. How nice it is outside? It is "nice" outside everyday- the environment can never be mean (joke). The air feels "fresh" (or at least it feels that way) against my skin and being out in the sunlight always makes me feel a little more rejuvenated afterwords. I believe the majority of students took the tunnels to classes once it began to sprinkle outside.

Here were some of my interesting finds at my spot today:

This is a metal pole that surrounds the statue in front of the Horan O'Donnell building. As one can see, it has begun to experience some rusting. Also observe the complete melting of the snow, however, the concrete base was damp from the sporadic rain showers that took place yesterday




Although it is hard to see in this picture, there are multiple foot steps in the soil around the area where the statue is situated



The tress in the quad are stripped of leaves and budding does not seem to be present



Where the grassy patches meet the bricks/concrete sidewalks, the lawn is destroyed due to the "salts" laid down during the heavy snow accumulation over the past few weeks. This can be noted around the entire campus.


I am eager to go exploring in my spot again next week, stay tuned!

"There is an air of unreality in debating these arcane points when the world is changing in such dramatic ways right in front of our eyes because of global warming." - Al Gore