By Jamil Oakford/ editor-in-chief

As March begins, there’s been a notable absence to this year’s winter: There hasn’t been much cold weather.

“I think I’m falling in love with it,” NE student Vanessa Marroquin said. “I think I called it swinter.”

With the lack of freezing days or snow and ice, Marroquin finds that calling this season a spring-winter wouldn’t be so far from the truth.

NE student Arturo Espinoza is slightly conflicted about a warm winter.

“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “But it’d be nice if we missed a few days of school.”

By March of last year, TCC had experienced two days of closures because of snow.

SE student David Ortiz said he would prefer the wintry weather to this.

“I’d rather have snow and ice right now,” he said. “Winter is supposed to be with snow and sleet.”

For Marroquin as well, not having a snow day has been a downside to the warmer weather.

“That kills me inside,” she said. “I was hoping it would snow before March.”

According to the National Weather Service in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the period between December and February is tied for the fourth-warmest winter on record. This winter saw 31 days with a high of 70 degrees or more, only four days shy of the record set in 1906-1907.

“We should have a separation between our seasons,” SE student Sarah Niakan said. “We should have a real cool winter and a real hot summer, but not having snow and ice helps with not having school and work closures.”

This year’s winter also saw the odd phenomenon of tornado activity the day after Christmas.

“It’s kind of concerning because we have cold winters one year, but then others we don’t, so it’s on and off,” Espinoza said. “We’re in tornado alley, so that’s not uncommon, but it’s weird when it happens in the winter.”

Warm winter holidays were the last thing NE student Diana Marroquin, Vanessa Marroquin’s cousin, considered happening.

“It felt so weird without the cold,” she said.

Some students are soaking up the rays of sunshine and the mild weather, finding ways to capitalize on it.

“I like the warm weather,” SE student Sarah Alnuhtadi said. “When it’s warm and sunny, I get motivated to go out and do more activities.”

SE student Michael Brown finds the weather to be a welcome addition to his mood.

“The sky and bright sun makes me feel joyful,” he said. “This is better than having snow.”