Lisa Falconer

With actual temperatures dropping to nearly 20 below zero, it is forcing that common phrase out of people’s mouths, “Why do I live in South Dakota?”

South Dakota is one of the lucky states with drastic variations in temperature, ranging from 105 to -20 in possibly less than six months.

Our winter weather typically begins in November but we have been quite fortunate until just recently.

The average high temperature for this time of the year is about 25 degrees. If it were that warm out now, we would see those select students wearing sandals to class.

This is the season when our cars tend to play mind games on us. Is it not starting because it is too cold?

Or is there really something wrong with my car?

Having grown up in eastern Montana, SDSU sociology professor, Meredith Redlin knows what cold is. “You can tell it’s below zero because the snow is very loud when you walk on it,” said Redlin.

As long as the ground is covered with that loud snow, the temperatures will remain rather low.

So are these breathtaking wind chills normal for Brookings? Usually not but you must keep in mind one thing.

“We have just been spoiled with the nice winters for the past two or three years,” said Nick Rau, a senior majoring in Landscape Design

Shawn Cable, a meteorologist at KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, believes that even though we are experiencing well below normal temperatures, we need to remember this is winter in South Dakota.

“This cold spell has been bottled up in Canada for quite some time. We weren’t too sure when it would reach us but we knew it would be quite cold,” said Cable.

Even though our hands go numb in just a couple of minutes, we have not reached a record low out of this system.

The current record stands at -27 degrees.

Cable, a 1997 graduate of SDSU, said, “I can remember walking all the way across campus to Ag Hall for class. I really wish they had underground tunnels.”

While we will be walking above ground for quite some time, we await the coming of spring. As for now, it looks as though these frigid temperatures will start to increase by as soon as next week.