<p>How large of a role does weather play in the student life at Rochester? Is the campus completely empty (outdoors) during winter months? Does the cold deter students from leaving their dorms? How harsh is the weather, really? If students stay home during the winter, how long does this period generally last?</p>
<p>The average temperatures (according to wikipedia) honestly don't seem too remarkably low to me, surprisingly enough, but the stories I hear about months of meter thick snow seem daunting. The city's proximity to Canada makes these stories seem quite plausible. </p>
<p>In essence, I'll repeat: How is the university affected by Rochester's climate?</p>
<p>As both a former student, local resident, and admissions counselor, the weather is not as bad as people say. The average temperature, as you saw, is not that bad because we're right close to the lake. We do get our fair share of snow, but it's rare to see 8" or more at any given time. In fact, this winter hasn't been bad at all. Student definitely leave their dorms and often go "traying," i.e. sledding down a hill behind one of our dining halls.</p>
<p>We also just recently had our winter carnival which normally includes a big name act. The worst temperatures are in January and February, so those would be the months that students "stay home."</p>
<p>sammyj-- that was a question my D had too. She grew up in the sunny Southwest where the skies are blue all winter and the winter daytime temps are usually in the high 40's-50's most of the time.</p>
<p>She's found that Rochester wasn't as cold and snowy as she had anticipated. In fact, she texted me the other day that she was outside in flipflops and T.</p>
<p>She says that people are always outside--regardless of the temps or the snow. And not just slogging between classes either.</p>
<p>the weather can def. be a downer. Campus is small tho. and there are inter-building passages so u may have to venture like 20 feet outside going andcoming from class. at the very most.</p>
<p>It may not seem cold, but wth rain and snow and sleet and WIND, it is def. cold. </p>
<p>BUt u get used to it and just makes spring that much sweeter</p>
<p>It is so hard to predict the weather. We have found that some years the yearly snow accumulation came mostly from storms and then some years there were just long spells of steady grey light snowy days. Same with the temperature.</p>
<p>What we have found is that the students seem to adjust to the weather quite well. Many enjoy traying. My younger son was capture on camera doing taichi in an open area on a windy snowy day!</p>
<p>Don't let the snow and cold scare you too much.</p>
<p>This "OMG the weather at Rochester sucks, and I will fail because of it" attitude is something that is driving me absolutely crazy. True, Rochester gets lake-effect snow-ins during the winter months, but that doesn't mean that it snows everyday from Dec to Mar. The average temperature in Dec is 23-36F. It is a beautiful, crisp, white winter-wonderland. Then you see all these students outside in a shirt and a hoodie over it, complaining how cold it is. Well, put on a freakin' coat and a hat and you'll be fine! Enjoy the weather instead of miserably complaining about it! </p>
<p>The snow/cold lasts for about three months, then it gets warm. </p>
<p>It gets very warm in the Summer (80s) and in the Fall, the temp is in the 60-70s. (BTW, I think Rochester has some of the best Fall foliage views in the country.)</p>
<p>Just for reference, here are the average Dec temperatures from other areas in the country:</p>
<p>Seattle: 36-46F
Boston: 27-41F
New York City: 32-43F
Portland (Maine): 18-36F</p>
<p>...but when you hear someone talking about going to NYU, etc, you never hear, "OMG, the average temp in NYC is 32-43F, how am I going to cope with this?!"</p>