Snow: A Double-Edged Sword

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Tess Kim enjoying the snow at Central Park, New York. Photo taken by Tess Kim. Taken on February 16th. All rights reserved.

If you like building snowmen or digging out your car from the thick snow, New York City might be the place for you. This season, New York City received an unprecedented amount of snow with 33.8 inches of snow falling on the city through the month of February.

This has been the most snow New York has seen and the immense amount of snow has sparked local citizens of New York to go out and have fun in the snow.

“The snowfall was extreme and heavy,” Tess Kim, a senior currently attending Columbia University, who has been looking on the bright side of the snowstorm stated. “This has devastated most forms of transportation in New York. But, this does not mean we cannot have little fun in the snow.”

This brings up an important point. Although the snow angels and snowmen might seem cute and fun, this storm was so intense that it hit public transportation. The extreme weather forced the closure of open metro service to close on Monday, the three main rail lines in the area and the metro connecting Manhattan and New Jersey. Due to the weather, the local airports announced some canceled flights, and before going to the airport, passengers were advised to monitor their return flight with the airline. In addition, it has led to many important closings most notably being vaccination sites and restaurants. 

Depending on how you look at the snowstorm, it can either be a childhood dream or your worst nightmare. If you love playing in the snow, building huge snowmen and rubbing in beautiful snow angels in the fluffy snow, this might seem like a winter wonderland. On the other hand, for the people who depend on public transportation and need to keep a business up and running, the storm is a menace.