This winter the Polar Vortex, a blast of arctic weather from Canada to the Northeast, has allowed Southern Lehigh students to enjoy several days off (and counting) due to extreme cold and snow. However, this dangerous weather has created some unsavory effects.

The main hurdle of the Polar Vortex is dealing with the combination of accumulating snow and consistent below-freezing weather. Since the outdoor temperature rarely rises high enough for the snow on the roads to melt, it causes slick and unsafe conditions. Even with the aid of road salt, which lowers the melting point of snow, treacherous road conditions persist and have plagued us with eight snow days to date.

After returning from the scheduled winter break, students were in the midst of filling out midterm packets, and starting to study, when snow started falling on a weekly basis. A majority of the snow days were built up during this time period, and called for a new and revised midterm schedule. Depending on how students managed their time, the snow days served as both a plus and minus.

“I personally felt that because of the snow days before midterms, I had more time to study,” junior Miles Johnston said.

However, other students had difficulties with having so much time out of school.

“It was a refreshing break,” junior Freddy Giordiano said, “but my procrastination has slowly taken over my whole life.”

A question that has never left the class of 2014’s mind is, when will we graduate?

At the latest school board meeting, it was decided that the last day of school would be June 13th, meaning seniors would graduate on this day. However, this results in the loss of scheduled days off on February 14th and March 14th, in order to make up days lost due to inclement weather.

If we have more snow days, we will have to attend school on April 17th. After this day, any extra days will be added on to the end of the school year, starting with June 16th.

Because of this, many students are hoping that more snow days won’t be needed since the current schedule already takes us to mid-June. Seniors especially want the snow to end because no one wants to go to school after graduation.

“There isn’t much we can do about the snow days we’ve had,” senior Eric Scott said.  “Personally, I would rather take off holidays in the year than add them onto the end of the year.”