First signs of winter weather as flurries fall

Chicago weather shocked many Thursday as autumn unexpectedly transformed into winter and snow flurries sprinkled through the air on DePaul's campus and around the city.

The snow started for a brief period of time around 1 p.m. and stopped until it picked up again at about 2:30 p.m. Neither instance lasted more than fifteen minutes and were both immediately followed by spouts of sunshine. None of the snow accumulated, and the only evidence left over were puddles scattered around campus.

The radar for Thursday indicated there was precipitation headed toward the city, but there weren't any other obvious warnings. As for the weekend, the weather is supposed to warm back up to the point where more snow anytime soon is unlikely.

Despite the suddenness of this snow, it's not the earliest in the season Chicago has experienced. According to the National Weather Service, the first snow last year was around the end of October. The record-setting date for earliest trace of snow is Sept. 25 in 1942 and 1948.

Senior public policy major Agnes Karoluk anxiously awaited the flurries after receiving calls from friends in the suburbs that snow was on its way.

"I was waiting for the bus as soon as it started coming down," she said. "It was so short. I was almost disappointed."

Karoluk is a Chicagoan particularly fond of snow, so the weather Thursday was far from bothersome to her.

"I really enjoy it," she said. "The blizzard last year was awesome. I'm always the only one who likes snow. A lot of my friends are from the west coast or Texas; they hate it."

Joe Frank, a sophomore finance major, is one example of someone from a warm climate caught in the midst of the volatile Midwest weather. Frank is from Miami, but unlike Karoluk's friends, he's excited to experience the Illinois winter.

"I've been waiting for it to snow for the last couple weeks," he said. "It hasn't bothered me yet, the cold."

While he's heard horror stories, he doesn't believe he's had enough experience with it to judge. A friend of his from Miami goes to Eastern Illinois University and, according to Frank, has already had enough of Illinois weather.

"He still hates it," he said. "He got over the whole fascination of snow. I don't know what it's going to be like for me."

Meghan Deady, a representative from Chiro One who was visiting DePaul, was taken aback by the weather change.

"When I saw that there was a possibility of snow this morning, it was a little frightening," she said. "I hope it doesn't start to accumulate."

However, after the early snowfall in the city last year, she said this was a much more welcome situation.

"It was nice to be able to have the warm weather longer than expected," Deady said.

Deady is a Lincoln Park resident, and after living in Chicago and Indiana, snow doesn't throw off her day too much.

"I like the snow," she said. "I just don't like to brush it off my car.

"It's a nice surprise," she added. "Makes me feel like Christmas is on its way."