It is official: Winter has arrived and it’s here to stay. How can you tell? Well, icicles line the roofs of houses. The sun rises and sets in a blink of an eye. Students pile into classes later and later, shaking snow out of their hair as they stumble in. Here are other surefire ways to know when the snow has hit Syracuse hard.

1. Salt – Huge pebbles of salt bleach the sidewalks and seep into the fibers of those $100 designer jeans.

2. Uggs – Those brand-new sheepskin boots soak up the snow like sponges and cling to your ankles like wet rags. It’s time to ask Daddy for a new pair.

3. Shorter days – Darkness falls faster. You step out after a mid-afternoon nap, and it looks like it’s already five minutes to midnight.

4. Conversation starters – All everybody does is complain about the weather. It does give guys an easy excuse to chat up that pretty girl shivering by the bus stop.

5. Tardiness – Sleeping in is a luxury. Due to never-ending snow, you have to languish at the bus stop or shovel your car out from under the winter wonderland.

6. Hot drinks – Just when you think the lines for Starbucks, People’s Place and Dunkin’ Donuts can’t get any longer, they do. Coffee is the season’s most popular accessory.

7. Umbrellas – Some people (the ones still wearing shorts) don’t get that umbrellas lose battles against Syracuse’s gusts of wind. And they look silly when they’re carried through 6 feet of snow.

8. The wind – Sure, snow is a pain to trudge through and you’ll be laughed at for slipping around, but man, the wind. When the gusts whip up, the winters at Syracuse start to blow. Literally.

9. Ordering out -When there’s a blizzard outside, nobody wants to walk across the street to Ernie Davis Dining Center. Instead, it’s easier to let the delivery guy’s car get stuck in the snow bank.

10. Miniskirts and heels – Unfortunately, typical going out clothes don’t change much. But girls will fall down a lot more.

11. Hands sans gloves -Unless you have cool gloves that let you use your touchscreen smartphone, most people will brave frostbite to text.

12. Bundling up – A five-minute walk to class now involves dressing up like the Abominable Snowman from ‘Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ But without the heart-warming ending.

13. Missing trays – There’s a clear correlation between the lack of dining hall trays and the increased number of sled riders on Crouse hill.

14. Frat row snowdrifts – When frat brothers forget to shovel, walking down Comstock Avenue turns into an impromptu curling match.

Published on January 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm