Title
Jenna’s Climate Story
Name
Jenna Onions
Place
Staten Island, NY; 10305
How are you sensing climate change?
Around 7-10 years ago, I remember the winters significantly colder than in recent years. In the past 4-5 years I haven’t felt like it has been like it was when I was younger. We used to get inches upon inches of snow, but the past few winters I feel like we got snow that melted that very next day. In 2008, we used to get 9 inches of snow in one day, while, in 2020, we averaged around 4.8 inches in the whole year. The week of October 10th, it was around 80° and sunny, but today, October 18th, it is 52° and windy. I remember waking up early on days that it snowed to watch the news hoping for the alert that schools were closed, so I could go put my snow suit on and jump into the piles of snow. I miss the feeling of coming inside from playing in the snow to hot chocolate and warm clothes fresh out the dryer. The feeling of warmness on my freezing cold skin is one I will never forget. We have had such a warm fall following a very warm summer. Since last winter had a blizzard, I am curious to see if we are going to have a lot of snow or not.
How do these changes make you feel?
These changes make me devastated because I loved the snow growing up and having snow days. Running in the snow and having hot chocolate is such a nostalgic thing for me as well as many others. Especially living in New York, these are the type of days you expect in the Winter months. Obviously, snow days consist of me shoveling out my car, but I just hope my kids will be able to experience snow the way I had. I feel that either fall is going to be skipped right over and we will go straight into winter or we will be getting random hot 80° days in December. I observed that the seasons are beginning to merge and there aren’t any consistent weather patterns for them as much. It makes me sad to think that someday soon the word seasons is merely just a word with no other attachment towards it. Furthermore, the seasons will just be words to differ the months rather than the distinct weather differences.
Collection
Northeastern Region
Citation
Staten Island, NY USA
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