January 23–29, 2008, Number 478
Battling the Elements
This past week in Houghton has been really beautiful and filled with snow. The campus is beginning to be transformed for Winter Carnival as the statues start to take form. According to Pasty Central (a website that has many local features on it) the total snowfall for the 2007–08 season (as of January 16, 2008) is up to 131.7". With the snowy weather this past week/weekend also came a drop in temperature with an extremely low windchill. This article will discuss the weather and how important safety precautions are for everyone, as well as explain the winter activities that are taking place this year for Carnival.
The windchill can be the hardest thing to deal with when you're outside either walking to class, playing broomball, working on statues, or trying to enjoy some other facet of the great outdoors. That is why it is important for your student to remember to dress to keep as warm as possible and leaving little skin open to the elements. Michigan Tech will issue email warning messages to inform students to be careful while out and about and to make sure they don't spend too much time outside. As fun as it can be to get caught up in the spirit of Winter Carnival or the entertainment of broomball, safety should always be the forerunner in everyone's minds.
I always find that either wearing long underwear, or my personal favorite Under Armor, can be a big help in keeping warm during the winter months. However a lot of emphasis should be placed on protecting your feet, hands, and face since they can be some of the more vulnerable spots. Several layers of warm, thick clothing, heavy duty boots, and gloves/hats/facial covers can be very useful in making sure that the body is kept warm.
For the broomball season, the temperature and windchill are managed by taking a measurement at the rinks. This makes the measurements more accurate. The rule states that the games will continue to play down to 20 degrees below 0 for the windchill. Anything below this and the members running the IRHC broomball league will begin to make decisions about canceling the games. Your student should keep this in mind when it comes time to play their game. He or she should make sure they check the weather outside and the temperature so they will know how warmly to dress.
If at any point in time a student begins to get extremely cold they should get back indoors where it is warm. If they believe they might have gotten frostbite, they need to slowly warm themselves because warming up too quickly can be dangerous to the skin as well. Make sure your student is keeping warm this winter season and taking all the necessary precautions to avoid prolonged exposure to the biting cold.
This year's Winter Carnival is being called "Frightful Creatures with Chilling Features" and as I mentioned above, we are getting lots of snow, which I'm hoping will make the statues look amazing again, as they are every year. At the Winter Carnival website information about the events, hotels, directions, etc. can be found. If you click on the schedule link along the left edge of the Winter Carnival homepage, it will bring up a week-by-week listing of the different evens taking place (click on the bar for each week and a list will be expanded). This year's events include curling, broomball (run by Blue Key), ice bowling, ice fishing, skating, human dogsled races, cross-country skiing, snow volleyball, and many more competitions that the groups will get involved in. The best day to come up, in my opinion, is the All-nighter. This takes place the Wednesday of Winter Carnival week and is when the entire campus comes out to enjoy the last day for building statues. The excitement on campus is huge and makes for a great time. Each of the events listed above can also be great fun to see, as many of the students try to get as much enjoyment as they can. Whether it is your friends pushing you on a flying saucer towards a bunch of huge, fake bowling pins or playing volleyball in the snow, the activities of Winter Carnival can make the winter months bearable.
As always, if there are any questions about the article, please feel free to email me at my personal email address (ksschon@mtu.edu). I will be mentioning more about Winter Carnival events as the time draws near, and I'll be getting some photos of the work that is taking place for the future. Any ideas you may have for articles is welcomed and encouraged. I hope all your students are enjoying the weather and being safe!
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885