This is for all my fellow warm climate migrants out there: the girls who think that anything lower than 60°F is super cold. This is for the girls who think that any temperature lower than 40°F might as well not exist and the girls whose summer and winter styles differ only by if they’re wearing a sweatshirt or not.
Since you got accepted, you’ve likely noticed the pattern of people’s responses when you tell them you’re going to Cornell. There are, of course, the congratulatory remarks. Then comes the pause. Then the “You know it’s cold up there, right?”
You know it snows there, and of course it’s going to be cold. It must get to, like, 30°F or something. And that’s only in the winter, which starts somewhere around December, right
Wrong. Let me walk you through everything I didn’t realize about the northeast.
First, the seasons are completely different. I’m from California, and there, the weather in October and November is basically the same as the weather in September. Once in a while, you’ll even get 80°F days if the weather is weird that year. So called “winter” weather describes that terrible period where it stays between 45°F and 65°F for a while, and spring can come as early as late February or early March sometimes.
Ithaca reaches California winter status IN OCTOBER. And it can go from California winter to snow in the span of a couple weeks. Once the snow starts, it may not stop until April. The temperatures can drop into the negatives, although it usually stays above 10°F unless the snow gods are feeling particularly feisty at the moment, and that doesn’t account for wind chill.
This is when you realize that you’re completely and utterly unprepared. If you’re like me, you weren’t even sure temperatures could below 30°F, and now you’ll have to walk all the way to class in this shockingly cold weather. But I can save you a lot of heartache (and frostbite) by helping you navigate the confusing world of winter gear.
You need to have snow boots by the end of September at the latest. No, rain boots are not a proper substitute. Your feet will freeze. You may comically slip and fall. Get snow boots. A snow jacket and gloves are also essential. For a snow jacket, I suggest something ridiculously thick that goes down to at least an inch above your knees. For my short squad, most 36” long jackets should do the trick. By gloves, I don’t mean the thin, super-cute ones that they sell for $5 at Old Navy.
“These should be warm enough, right? Plus, I can use my phone with them on!”
I’m talking about the thick ones that render you nearly incapable of opening doors or digging things out of your purse. Without these, your hands will turn all red and scaly and weird, and you’ll have to drown yourself in lotion in an attempt to make them look like they belong to you and not to a 90-year-old.
Finally, you may need thermal leggings to put under your jeans if they aren’t insulated. Here’s a good test: when you wear your jeans outside in the winter where you live, do your legs get even slightly cold? If they do, you may need thermal leggings. These can wait a bit longer than the jacket, boots, and gloves, but keep this in mind while budgeting, because you don’t want your legs to get numb while running to your 9:05 am class after oversleeping.
You can and should get all of these things from Amazon, because Ithaca’s lack of shopping is frankly depressing. However, make sure you order them early enough (like, as soon as you get to school) so you’ll have time to return them and get new ones before the snow starts. In a pinch, they sell super overpriced clothes at the Cornell Store, but you’ve already given so much money to them at this point that buying their overpriced clothes would just add insult to injury.
You now have an idea of the horrible weather you’re going to be facing in the next few years of your life. You’ll feel colder than you have ever imagined and then warmer than you ever imagined when you and your winter gear walk into a lecture hall that is so overheated you end up stripping down to a t-shirt. But at the end of it all, you’ll get to experience the magic of attending Cornell! And isn’t that worth a bit of extra clothing?