ISU students, faculty and administration may not be getting a break from the monotonous days of freezing rain, slush-covered sidewalks and snow any time soon.

David Knollhoff, National Weather Service meteorologist, said the climatological average that shows the last 30 to 50 years of weather data indicates spring won’t be coming until the latter half of March.

“It depends on the snow and a lot of other factors when spring will arrive,” he said. “If the climatological prediction is right, weather should start to get warmer, the sun should start to shine, and the dreary days of winter should be behind us.”

Dennis Todey, assistant scientist of agronomy, said that the first significant snowfall was on Dec. 7.

“[Meteorologists] are now setting a record in Ames for longest period of snow on the ground,” he said.

December and January have been colder than usual, but not to an extreme, Todey said.

“We can’t tell much of anything for the future forecasts until the snow melts,” he said. “But once the snow melts the weather could start to warm up.”

In September, Knollhoff said the NWS office predicted it was going to be warmer this winter than it actually has been.

NWS had anticipated this winter would be similar to the past three winters because of La Nina and El Nino, he said.

“We’ve seen more winter-like conditions this year, and that is not unusual for a typical winter in Iowa,” he said.

Students said they would rather take a mild winter over a typical Iowa winter.

“I want to enjoy the deck I just built in the fall,” said Mitch Gabrielson, junior in hotel, restaurant and institution management. “I am wondering if I will ever be able to grill out.”

Shawn Walding, junior in civil engineering, said he’s been craving to go outside to throw his Frisbee around, but he said the weather is forcing him to stay inside.

“I feel like the weather is just teasing us right now, bringing these semi-warm days of 35-degree weather and then it goes back into the teens,” he said. “It’s a little bit too much for me to handle.”

Another student said the weather is hampering the Ames party scene.

“I’m ready for winter to be over because I want to have the freedom to just wander around to different parties,” said Shaun Grammer, junior in computer science. “During the past few months, it’s too cold to go to different ones.”

Gabrielson said he doesn’t trust the weather predictions, and he is taking a pessimistic view of what the weather will be like once he arrives back in Ames from spring break.

“It will probably get nice when I go on spring break and then when I come back it will probably start snowing again,” Gabrielson said.