News weather

The cold never bothered MIT anyway

Is it quickly becoming the time of year when Cambridge reminds us that sweaters were originally designed for survival rather than for style. Break out your scarves, gloves, and hats, for the freezing weather has officially arrived! The weekend is shaping up to be sunny but chilly. No precipitation is forecasted for Boston for the next few days, but other regions of the United States are already seeing their first snow.

On this day in 1996, over 160,000 people in the Great Lakes region were out of power due to an early snow storm. This region is very susceptible to heavy snow due to lake effect snow. Lake effect snow results when cold air moves over warm lake water, rises over the cold air above it, freezes, and precipitates over the land. The storm 21 years ago was one of the most severe early lake effect snow storms on record.