This year on Valentine’s Day, when people’s hearts are warmed and flowers are everywhere, Mother Nature deviated with a blast of wintry weather. Snow falling in the Camas area led to a delayed start to the school day and caused chaos for students and staff at Camas High School. Despite this event, the signs of spring are all around, even if some have been recently covered by a bit of snow.

Many students and staff had a negative attitude towards the surprise delay. English teacher Mrs. McGlinn said, “because of the unexpected snowfall, I woke up too early and ended up coming to the school two hours early.” Also, Sophomore Mitch Fies shared, “The unexpected snowstorm was crazy. It made it kind it of hard to get to school.”

Whenever snow piles up enough on the streets of Camas to cause school closures or late starts, residents of Livingston Mountain often feel the full force of the weather. Freshman Drew Fishburn said, “Living on Livingston Mountain makes it  hard to commute any time there is a snowfall in the community.”

The snowfall caught many by surprise. “It has been perfectly dry these last couple of days,” said Mrs. McGlinn. Students were generally full of excitement, too. Freshman Cole Allen said, “Waking up and seeing the snow was very shocking, confusing, and exciting.”

Another surprise snowfall happened a couple days later shocking students and staff. That’s when school closed down for the next two days and got students an early release Tuesday and had Wednesday and Thursday off.

Despite the fluke snowstorm, spring may be just around the corner. As the weather begins to get warmer, students and staff are starting to prepare. Freshman Cael Prentice said, “To prepare for the spring I normally start wearing shorts and t-shirts again.” Freshman Blake Bell said one particular milestone lets him know it is spring: “My family normally takes the doors off my dad’s Jeep to get ready for the heat.” And Mcglinn said “I guess I just start getting outside more and wear less layers”

All of this goes to prove that the weather does what it wants, sometimes without warning. The only thing students and staff can do is prepare for what the Pacific Northwest weather has in store for the next few months. Maybe the CHS community should just listen to the groundhog in the future; he did predict six more weeks of winter, after all.