As you may know, this winter has certainly been a unique one in North America! A cold wave is sweeping Canada and the East Coast of America, affecting approximately 200 million people. The total amount of snow that has accumulated in the United States is more than there has been in decades. Countless temperature records have been broken by the extreme weather event. The cities and towns near my home certainly have not been skipped over by this storm.

    The cold wave has taken its toll on those of us living in its wake. Currently, the snow outside my house has been piled up waist-high.

    The roads have not fared well in this weather, either. Potholes dot the pavement, and even the strongest and largest of the trees lining the neighborhoods and highways haven’t been saved from the weight of the snow upon their boughs; the trucks of tree removal companies have been busy clearing limb after limb of snapped tree branches. Most townships along the East Coast have far exceeded their salting budget. My mother went to buy salt from Home Depot, a home and garden retailer — and they’ve never run out of salt until this year!

    Snow blowers, shovels, flashlights, electricity backup generators, cases of water bottles and convenient packaged food have all been in extremely high demand due to the winter weather warning advised over the majority of North America. Many stores experienced significant losses in business due to the difficult weather. However, convenience stores as well as delivery restaurants and online stores have benefited from customers unwilling or unable to leave their homes.

    The severe weather wave has resulted in countless closings of schools, businesses, and public transit systems. My school has closed more than 10 times in the past two months due to the snow! I have even lost count; I haven’t had a full five-day week of school since the week of December 16th before Christmas break. My school, along with literally hundreds of thousands of homes, lost power on multiple occasions. Because public schools in the area need to adhere to a 180-day school year schedule, many of them have taken away the President’s Day vacation, as well as days off of their spring breaks or summer breaks. My school had intended to hold classes on February 14th, Valentine’s Day, but the blizzard that dumped nearly 20 inches of snow at our feet made certain that we would still enjoy that day off! My principal advised teachers to assign us several days of homework in case we lose more days of school — which we did. Most of the work was online, so anyone with power could access it.

    Many events scheduled during the months of January and February have been affected by this freezing weather as well. The winter formal dance held by my school was scheduled for February 7, but the loss of power the day before forced us to postpone.

    This winter is certainly not one that I will forget any time soon. The thought that it is currently above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius) in Australia right now is just unbelievable. To those who have yet to shed your winter coats, stay warm!