The popular adage “you might be from Michigan if you”ve ever experienced frostbite and sunburn in the same week” has held especially true this month as Ann Arbor has received both snow and near-record highs.
Last Sunday students woke to find a layer of snow on their cars, but yesterday students were outside in shorts and tank tops, lounging on the Diag and in the Arb as temperatures reached 77 degrees. The temperature missed the day”s record set in 1991 by only 3 degrees, said University weather observer Dennis Kahlbaum.
Some students are finding the sudden changes of weather hard to get used to, although almost nobody is complaining.
“I think it”s finally great. I just hope that it doesn”t start snowing again tomorrow,” said LSA freshman Crissy Logarta, who said she”s from an area in Wisconsin where the weather is more stable. “Ann Arbor weather is crazy. … I could never get used to it.”
While some students have given up trying to guess what tomorrow will bring, others find out what clothes to save for the next day by checking the Weather Channel and the Internet.
“I check the weather every single day, to find out whether its going to snow or not, or be 70 degrees,” Logarta said.
But they might want to look elsewhere for good news.
“I don”t think it”s going to last because I checked on the Internet,” said Loubna Bouamane, a French professor who said she hasn”t been able to adjust to the rapid temperature changes in the seven months she”s been at the University.
Temperatures are expected to decrease continuously until at least the middle of the month. On April 17, the last day of classes, temperatures are predicted to be in the low 30s.
Kahlbaum said this weekend”s warm weather was due to a pressure system.
“We”re on the eastern side of a very strong low pressure system that brought the warm air down. That”s why it was so windy,” he said, adding that cooler air is due to a change in the pressure system, causing Ann Arbor to be on the northwest side of the system.
The cooler weather might benefit some students who said they were having a hard time concentrating on their studies.
“I”m working the same amount but I think it”s hard with the weather. It”s hard to get motivated,” said LSA senior Mirelle Syrja. “Graduation is in two weeks and it”s hard to stay on top of things.”
Kahlbaum said despite near-record highs yesterday, the weather isn”t unusual for this time of the year, when Michigan experiences a combination of winter and spring temperatures.
“It”s typical of April in Michigan,” he said.
Students who have lived in Michigan for most of their lives agree that the up and down weather is expected.
“It”s part of the Michigan character,” Syrja said.
The average high temperature in Ann Arbor during April is 58 degrees the record, from 1899, is 88 degrees. The average low temperature is 37 degrees, with a record low of only seven degrees in 1982.
Students shouldn”t expect any stability from Mother Nature for the next month.
Kahlbaum said the average first day of 80-degree weather in Ann Arbor is May 3.