The fall 2024 semester greeted Northeastern first-years with warm temperatures and long stretches of daylight. For those originally from the South and the West Coasts, the change of scenery promised a familiarly comfortable weather experience, but as the leaves began to change color and upperclassmen geared up with puffer jackets and earmuffs, these students soon realized that they were in for a frigid surprise.
“When I got into [Northeastern], I thought it wasn’t going to be that bad, and then I came here and it just kept getting worse,” Diana Rudolph, a first-year business administration and design combined major, said of the dropping temperatures. “I guess I was kind of living in denial.”
Rudolph is from Miami, one of the United States’ southernmost cities that experiences warm temperatures year-round.
Boston saw its first substantial snowfall of the winter Dec. 20, 2024, gathering more than five inches of powder. That same day, Miami reached a high of 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Growing up in Miami, Rudolph was always close to the beach, developing an affinity for water sports, namely surfing. Now, during the infamous northeast winter, these tropical activities are a distant memory.
Angelica Wu, a first-year business administration major, also developed interests that suited the scorching temperatures of her hometown San Diego.
“It’s very easy to just take my skateboard and go out for a while and not have to worry about it being too cold,” Wu said of living in California.
At Northeastern, however, these students have sacrificed this lifestyle, and are forced to adapt to the bitter Boston climate.
On Jan. 20, five inches of snow fell over Boston. Two days later, temperatures reached a low of 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The city’s icy streets and frozen-over lakes are hardly suitable for the warm weather activities that Rudolph and Wu are used to, and for the first time in their lives, they both had to buy heavy-duty jackets. Wu, specifically, bought a puffer for a price that shocked her friends from back home.
However, both students have found that, even in this unfamiliar winter weather, there is still fun to be had outdoors.
“Every single time it’s started to snow, I go to the [Boston] Common with my boyfriend and play in the snow,” Rudolph said. “But I can’t handle it for too long.”
Some students, like first-year psychology major Cyrus Maram, have enjoyed the dramatic temperature drop. Maram, a Houston native, admitted, “I usually try to escape the heat by traveling elsewhere.” He said when he received his Northeastern acceptance, he looked forward to the bitter Boston winters, which starkly contrast those of his hometown with temperatures that rarely, if ever, fall below freezing.
“The Boston weather has not really been that bad. I think I’ve acclimated to the temperatures really well,” Maram said.
Rudolph, Wu and Maram have all had one definitive, shared experience: preemptive concerns from friends and family.
Rudolph’s friends from Miami, many of whom chose to attend schools in Florida, would ask her continually how she planned to deal with the Boston climate.
“I kept telling them that [the weather] is not going to stop me from pursuing higher education,” Rudolph said. When Wu’s relatives asked her the same questions, she replied, “I guess I can deal with it.”
Regardless of the harsh weather that climate change has caused, Boston is a city that, for the moment, still promises cold winters. Maram has advice for incoming Northeastern students: “If you move to Boston, know the cold weather is not as bad as you expect. Just be prepared.”
