It's not that cold, really

[jesse_the_k]

I'm feeling like an old fogey grump (see icon).

We live in Wisconsin! Yes, it's -1°F right now, headed to -26°F tomorrow, with a wind. Yes, we had around 6 inches of snow.

But honestly, it takes a full 20 minutes to get frostbite in this weather. Layer up! Wear a hat!

That the University of Wisconsin-Madison closed down based on an online student petition just stuns me.

Comments

[julian]

Hum.

Is Wisconsin-Madison mostly commuters, or is it folks in dorms?

[ursula]

Some of both. It's a flagship university, so there are lots of students in dorms, but not enough dorms to go around.

[julian]

OK, I can lean on the side of that being reasonable, then, if there's a lot of people who have a long walk/travel to get to campus.

[ursula]

Yeah, this is really not weather in which I'd want to wait for a bus, and the college town where I live is warmer than Madison.

[jesse_the_k]

The good news is that UW students get subsidized city bus passes. The bad news is that our Metro can't provide more buses, because we don't have anywhere to store them.

Hearkening back to the brief time I was a UW student, I remember how frustrating it was moving between outside (which I dressed for) and inside (which was centrally heated to a Carter-approved 65°). There simply wasn't enough room in the lecture hall for the second skins we all shed on entry.

[bibliofile]

Also, the campus is a couple of miles long, being smushed next to a lake.

I don't think it was just the student petition that closed UW-Madison. No mail delivery for two days, across ten states! When the postal service refuses to go outside, it's not that the students are too whiny. (Also, all city offices and libraries closed for two days. Not usually a thing.)