Despite last week's unusually mild weather, Dartmouth students should put away their tanning oil in favor of mittens and scarves, as Hanover's typical subzero temperatures descended Tuesday and will likely not ease up soon.
The cold weather has many staying inside to avoid the dangerous cold. Hanover Fire Department officials even postponed fire drills for College Greek houses earlier in the week.
The sudden change in weather resulted from a jet stream plunging south into the central part of country, driving a broad mass of cold air over the eastern United States, according to a spokesman from the National Weather Service.
The cold weather will persist over the next few days, as temperatures continue to decline through Friday. Freezing temperatures are forecast to continue through next week, with the highest temperatures reaching just four degrees.
Despite unseasonably warm weather last week, this winter's average temperature has been 0.3 degrees colder than last year's at 27.6 degrees, according to the NWS.
While the NWS has predicted normal temperatures this year, it has also predicted that precipitation will fall below average.
Freshmen who arrived at Dartmouth from warmer climates said they had a difficult time adjusting to Hanover's chilly winter.
"I was deceived," Erin Miller '08 said. "They were like, 'Oh, you're from Chicago. The weather here isn't too different.' It's completely different."
Students from the South have had an even tougher time adjusting to the frigid temperatures.
"I'm not used to it at all, and I don't like it, and I'm sick," said Florida native Alexandra Mesa '08. "This is my first time living in negative-degree weather. I wasn't expecting it to be like this."
Those who came to Dartmouth from colder locations were more nonchalant about the recent drop in temperatures. Alaska native Katie Cronk '08 said the winters there are similar to the current freezing conditions.
"I'm used to having to deal with it," Cronk said.
Despite their plight, freezing freshmen have garnered little sympathy from Dartmouth's more seasoned undergraduates, who know what to expect when Winter-term temperatures plummet, especially those who survived last winter.
"If you don't like the cold, you shouldn't have come to Dartmouth," Andrew Friedenthal '05 said.
The lowest temperature reached last year was negative 13 degrees, although that number belies the cold students actually feel.
"It might be negative 13 with no wind and that's okay, but other days, it might be zero degrees, but if it's windy it could feel like negative 30," the NWS spokesperson said.
January is typically the coldest month in New England with an average high of 20.6 and low of 9.7. February is typically slightly more mild.
