While students at Cathedral Prep are used to seeing a “white spring,” the weather across the United States has become a story of two extremes this week. While a light snow fell over Erie with a chilly high of 37 degrees, the Southwest was trapped under a historic “heat dome” that shattered records and pushed temperatures into the triple digits.
The contrast is hard to ignore. Looking out the windows at 10th and Sassafras, the ground was covered in a fresh layer of white, yet parts of Arizona and California saw the mercury hit a staggering 112 degrees, the hottest March temperature ever recorded in U.S. history.
“Temperatures are 25-35 degrees above normal,” the National Weather Service stated during a recent heat advisory, adding that, “many daily records will be shattered.”
This massive difference in weather is creating very different spring break plans for Prep students. For the Cathedral Prep baseball team, break might be a little too sunny. The team is traveling to Arizona this week for a major tournament, trading their winter coats for jerseys in a climate that feels more like the middle of July than late March.
“It’s gonna be sweltering down there,” Prep baseball player Mathew Boam said. “We’re going to try our best to take home the wins, but that’s if we don’t get a heat stroke.”
The extreme heat in the West is being called “virtually impossible” without the effects of climate change, according to recent scientific reports.
While the Ramblers on the diamond prepare for triple-digit heat, other students are staying local to take advantage of the lingering winter weather here in Pennsylvania.
“There’s still some snow out on the slopes,” junior Harrison Brugger said. “I’m gonna go skiing this weekend.”
As the baseball team hydrates and prepares for the desert sun, the rest of the school remains in a frigid winter environment. Whether you are swinging a bat in 100-degree weather or hitting the slopes in Erie’s 24-degree morning air, it is clear that this March is one for the record books.
“The area of record temperatures is extremely large,” said meteorologist Gregg Gallina. “That’s the thing that’s really bizarre.”
