Students Weigh in on Bozeman's Dormant Winter

With each passing day, the glaring lack of snow around Bozeman becomes more and more apparent. There are certainly benefits to a delayed winter, but no one can deny that it feels strange to be in Dec. with no snow on the ground and temperatures in the 50s on some days. 

Personally, I’ve enjoyed aspects of our extended fall, but with each passing day, my desperation for snow and skiing grows stronger. I’ve been wondering: how does the rest of our MSU community feel about our unusual snow drought? The opinions are in, and it looks like student sentiments are mixed. 

Bode Kostick is a junior environmental science major and co-president of the MSU Jib Club. Jib Club is dedicated to promoting rail skiing and progress for expert and beginner skiers alike. Given his interests, Kostick had a strong opinion when it came to the lack of snow thus far. “It sucks,” he said. “We had a bunch of snow for one week, I was super excited to go skiing and then sadly, there’s no more snow. I just want to go skiing.” Kostick and his club rely on snow to do what they love, so as the days without snow grow so does their disappointment. 

I expected every skier I came across to be disappointed by the weather so far, but found some were rather optimistic. Will Erving, a senior geology major, still had high hopes for this winter. “I think it’s great,”  Erving said, “I think El Niño is really holding back on the winter so we don’t get any of that slush crap and then we’re gonna get an absolutely glorious Jan., Feb. and March.” 

When Erving speaks of El Niño, he is talking about a warm weather pattern that typically occurs every three to five years and results in warmer temperatures and possibly less snow over the course of the winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Erving said that he is hopeful that these warm days are only temporary until a great snowfall comes in. 

No one knows exactly how El Niño will affect our weather this winter, but the extended days of warmth have some people concerned — even if they’ve enjoyed it. Julia Goode, a senior in exercise science, told the Exponent she was fine with the lack of snow in the beginning. “At first I was alright with it because I got to bike a little longer, but now it’s just weird and it’s kinda stressing me out.” Goode said that she feels like the warm days this time of year just don’t make sense. “There just should be snow. It's winter,”she said.

Ian Colliver, a junior studying geology, mirrored Goode’s opinion that the warmth was nice for a while, but now he’s ready for winter to truly hit. “I liked it until mid-Nov. Now I’m kind of bummed because I really want to go ski, and snowshoe.” It seems like as time wears on and snow fails to fall, the number of students who appreciate these days are dwindling, although there are still some left.

“I’m honestly stoked right now,” sophomore microbiology student Zach Robinson said. “I love running and this has kind of extended that season and I’ve gotten to go on a lot of nice cold winter morning runs and I normally don’t get to on.” 

Robinson told the Exponent that he is pumped that the warm days have allowed him to do what he loves during a time of the year when he normally cannot. He said he’s also not looking forward to what it’s gonna mean once the snow does start falling. 

“I’m really not looking forward to digging out cars and shoveling my apartment,” he said. It may not last forever, but students like Robinson will enjoy our mild days without snow for as long as they can.

I can relate to students like Robinson as the delayed winter has allowed for activities not typical of early winter. However, like most of the students I spoke to, I am ready to be fully immersed in winter. There’s certainly a crowd who are still enjoying the snowless days of the year, but overall the feeling around campus is one of growing discontent I guess all we can do now is wait and see what happens.