For millions of Americans, it’s starting to look a lot like the holiday season, festive lights, snow and freezing weather. However, for some Arizona State University students the warm weather has them feeling displaced.
In movies, popular culture and television the winter holidays are depicted as a time spent with family in chilly weather with a high chance of snow.
This year in Arizona, however, traditionally cooler months have reached record highs.
Kaitlyn Kor, an out-of-state ASU student from Iowa, said that the climate change from Arizona to Iowa makes it feel less like the winter holidays she celebrates.
“At home it’s 40 or 50 degrees right now, so it’s a lot colder than it is in Arizona,” Kor said. “However, a reason I came to ASU was for the warmer weather.”
The warm weather and palm trees in Arizona make some out-of-state ASU students feel like the holiday season isn’t here.
“It definitely doesn’t feel the holiday season just because it’s not as cold,” Kor said. “At home most of the time we have snow right now which makes it feel more like Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
However, Kor said that she will still get to experience a cold Christmas.
“I get to go home for Christmas break, so I’ll get to be home with the cold weather,” Kor said.
Jordan Tower, also an out-of-state ASU student, is from South Dakota and agrees that the Arizona weather is hard to adjust to at this time of year.
“The hot weather in Arizona is something I had to get used to,” Tower said. “I do feel like the weather confuses me when I get to the end of the school semester because there isn’t that big of a weather change in Arizona.”
According to Tower, the weather has also affected her track of time.
“Sometimes it’s confusing about what month it is,” Tower said. “It feels like the holiday seasons sneak up on me since I’ve been going to school in Arizona.”
For in-state students getting to experience a snowy winter holiday season at home isn’t possible.
Gillian Stierman, an Arizona native and ASU student, said the warmer weather at this period of year just seems normal.
“I have gotten used to the weather around this time of year because I have never experienced anything different,” Stierman said. “I’ve never even seen snow.”
Stierman celebrates Hanukkah and says weather plays into the perception of the ideal holiday.
“Seeing Hanukkah represented with snow and cold weather comes to mind when I think of the holidays,” Stierman said. “Every holiday movie has snow. I wish the weather were colder in Arizona around this time of year.”