Snow will eventually fall this winter regardless of Mother Nature's spiteful reminders this week of the warmth of summer. The week's unseasonably warm weather brought shorts and Frisbees out of storage for only a brief moment it seems, as four to six inches of snow is forecast to fall today.
Madison has had its fair share of lovely November weather, but not since 1964 has the mercury risen to 76A°F. With an average temperature of 35A°F for November, Madison is no stranger to winter's wrath, but in recent days, the temperature has been considerably warmer.
""I do like how everything looks so pretty after the first snow,"" said UW-Madison senior and west side resident Sofie Brubaker. ""I have loved this nice weather though and I'm not looking forward to getting up in the morning and scraping my car.""
""I like the snow when I don't have to shovel it,"" said State Street resident Peter Frank. ""I'm not ready for the cold, especially knowing that we have months of it ahead.""
Those lucky enough to have their landlords deal with removal need not worry about keeping the sidewalks clear, but sleeping in this winter could potentially cost you.
City ordinance 10.28 demands that: ""sidewalks be clear of all snow and ice not later than 12:00 noon the day following a snowfall.""
The penalty for snow criminals? A $109 fine for the first offense.
Regardless of your love or hate for snow, the chilly white stuff has beneficial properties that go beyond pegging your jerk roommate. According to the website of the National Snow and Ice Date Center, without snow cover, the ground absorbs four to five times more enery from the sun.
Thus, the presence or absence of snow plays a predominant factor in controlling patterns of heating and cooling over the Earth's land surface.
Forecasting snow is also one of the most difficult tasks for meteorologists because very small differences in temperature govern its formation and the heaviest snow tends to fall in very narrow bands.
""Winter is cool up until New Year's Eve and then it gets pretty cold"" said UW-Madison senior John Kotnarowski. ""I do like it when it snows a lot because you can do winter sports but going to class sucks.""
One of Madison's winter festival favorites, Kites on Ice, still remains on hiatus after last year's event was cancelled to allow festival directors to evaluate and re-tool. The annual festival held in February has yet to be announced despite huge success in its prior seven years.
