Arctic punishment: Lessons learned from a North Carolinian’s first winter in Nebraska

I have lived all over the place including the Midwest, New England and the southeast. Out of everywhere I’ve lived, I thought that the state of Maine had the worst winters. Never have I been more wrong. Nebraska’s winter is pure brutality. Yet, I’ve been told that this past winter has been mild compared to the last few years! Maybe I’ve just gone soft from living in North Carolina for the past year, but here are some lessons I learned from my first winter in Nebraska:

Your weather app is a liar

Typically I’d use the weather app on my phone to help me decide how I should dress for the day. This, of course, was a mistake considering there’d be times my app would say it’d be in the 60s and later I would walk to class and realize the harsh reality that it was actually in the 40s with wind, and I’d be suffering in shorts.

Wind is a killer and hats are your best friend

Just when you thought the cold was bad enough, its evil cousin comes through in the form of wind. Not just your typical wind, nearly hurricane force winds. You better make sure your papers are put away and anything else that could possibly blow away, because it will. You yourself might even blow away.

If you’re like me and wear your hair long, going outside with your hair down is out or you’ll be blinded by a curtain of hair. My friend and I actually talked about this problem the other day. We both agreed that beanies are the best thing to keep your hair out of your face. Hair ties just don’t cut it. Your hair will eventually just fall out of the tie, and your hair will eventually begin to break if you wear it up too much.

Exercising outside is a mistake

Since I don’t have a car, I’ll usually take my bike if I need to go somewhere and my friends who have cars aren’t available. More recently, I’ve picked up skateboarding too. Doing any of these activities is not a good idea in the cold and wind. Either your extremities will begin to feel like they’ll snap off like icicles, or the wind will blow you right off your bike or skateboard. In fact the other day my friend witnessed me nearly experience the latter.

These are just a few tough lessons mother nature has decided to teach me the hard way, but I’m sure after a few more winters here I’ll revisit this even more, since this was a ‘mild winter.’

By Evan Majors