T-shirt clad students run freely as a flying disc is passed amongst them.
Birds chirp and flowering trees line the Brickyard.
Winter is in the air.
With average temperatures in the 50s and 60s, students have taken stances on both sides of this warm weather issue: either they hate it or they love it.
“I enjoy the winter time because it’s cold — you need the different seasons,” Peter McAnulty, a freshman in paper science and chemical engineering, said. “A part of me is missing without the snow in the wintertime.”
Michael Dixon, a sophomore in Spanish, agrees.
“Christmas wasn’t the same at Grandma’s this year, but Grandma was happy because she doesn’t like the snow,” Dixon said.
Others are looking at the brighter and warmer side of the weather.
“This warmer weather allows me to wear shorts and show off my wonderful legs,” Chris Tunstall, a junior in computer engineering, said.
At the heart of this curious weather is El Ni-o, the cyclical warming of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean driven by pressure in ocean temperature and climate change, which has a period of two to seven years, according to NCSU climatologist Ryan Boyles.
Global warming is the global increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans observed over decades. Most of this warming is observed in the Arctic areas and is accredited to human activities.
What has been unusual about the weather, Boyles said, is that it is warm and the pattern is stable. The jet stream usually meanders and wobbles and this winter it is unusually bypassing North Carolina.
“I’ve been surprised [the weather pattern] has been stable so long,” Boyles said. “It’s tough to know what’s going on.”
Although Boyles is not certain about the weather explanation, he says that it is not solely associated with global warming and that global warming plays only a small role.
“The entire nation is not seeing the warm weather we are seeing,” Boyles said.
Richard Lancia, professor of fisheries and wildlife, believes this warmer weather affects the animals and plants.
He refers to the polar bear incident. Polar bears are being considered for the threatened species list because of the rising Arctic temperatures.
“There is a whole plethora of evidence that there is climate change going on, whether good or bad depends on the perspective,” Lancia said. “The change is induced by people and there are all kinds of environmental and ecological consequences.”
According to the Global Climate Change and Wildlife in North America Technical Review, the climate affects all species in numerous ways.
Although this weather is not ideal for wildlife in North America, John Lapp, professor of economics, says it helps the economy.
“It has already had an apparent effect on oil — oil acts as a tax cut and is beneficial to the economy,” Lapp said.
Lapp also said good weather allows construction to continue and productivity to maximize.
“I’m in favor of warm winter weather. If what we’re enjoying is a warm spell — great,” Lapp said. “If it is evidence of global warming, then it’s potentially dangerous.”
Companies such as Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, are also feeling the effects of this warm weather.
“Weather is one of the key factors that affects the amount of energy customers use,” David McNeil, a Progress Energy spokesperson, said. “Warmer weather results in fewer bills.” According to McNeil, winter and summer are the times customers usually use the most energy.
“In recent weeks, customers have been using less energy. Bottom line — we can’t control the weather,” McNeil said.
While the weather is currently pleasant, the future may bring hardships.
“It bothers me because I don’t know how the warm weather will affect the rest of the year,” Akeem Robinson, a sophomore in chemical engineering, said.
No one does, or as Ryan Boyles said, that person would be very wealthy.