Minnesotans thrive on the enduring tundra-like weather each winter. The subzero temperatures and abundant snowfall allow us to endlessly complain to everyone and anyone willing to listen.

We can’t help it; it’s in our nature.

With feet of snow and bitter days of the polar vortex, one of the most common topics of conversation is this ridiculous weather. While Minnesotans are putting up with these obnoxious conditions, I’ve personally noticed that St. Thomas students are fighting quite the battle in St. Paul.

As Minnesotans– or at least temporary ones while we’re at St. Thomas– we’re fortunate to have numerous social media outlets at our disposal. What better way to increase our reach of complaint from those nearby to literally thousands of people than a quick status update on Facebook or a Tweet? A post complaining about the weather is bound to get feedback: fellow Minnesotans pitting their misery against one another or friends from out of state expressing their shock and condolences about our “living conditions.”

Instagram is another common channel for expressing winter woes. Whether our pictures illustrate the height of the snow piles atop cars lining our streets; the subzero temperature displayed on our cars’ dashboards; or selfies of our faces covered so heavily in hats and scarves that only our eyes are visible, Minnesotans love adding a nice Valencia filter and posting away.

In the past year, Snapchat has become increasingly popular and is my personal favorite complaint method. Much like with Instagram, a picture is typically captioned with something along the lines of, “THIS CAN’T BE REAL,” or really any phrase containing at least one profanity.

Recently, the app added options to spice up our Snapchat pictures with a variety of filters. Some filters resemble Instagram’s, altering the look and coloring of the picture. The other “smart filter” options allow users to include an image of the speed in mph at which a user is moving at (pointless, dangerous or hilarious? Still up for debate). Others post an image of the current time, or, finally bringing us to the point of this explanation, the current temperature.

Minnesotans are all present and experiencing our state’s temperature, no matter how frigid it may be, so why do we find this necessary? Sometimes it’s because we just feel like complaining; misery loves company. Sometimes it’s because the number is so low it’s almost laughable. Either way, the Snapchat temperature filter was quite possibly made for Minnesotans, and there’s no doubt we’ll continue taking advantage of it.

I wholeheartedly admit that I am a culprit in exploiting the temperature filter. What better way to start my morning than a quick selfie while walking to class with “-17 degrees” written across my frozen face? I think part of the addiction to conveying our winter woes through social media is the shock value. No matter how many times I see it, minus 17 degrees is still 17 degrees below zero! That’s 49 degrees below freezing. No one, not even Minnesotans, can become desensitized to numbers like that. If my Minnesotan friends are shocked, I know I’ll get even better reactions from my friends from other parts of the country. My study abroad experience introduced me to friends all over the United States, so those in Texas and Arizona see my minus 17 degree Snapchats and can’t even process it. It all comes down to Minnesotans bonding over our unbearable climate and boldly expressing our tundra survival skills to our out-of-state friends.

So why do we live here? Do we enjoy the polar vortex? As St. Thomas students, do we love the horribly plowed (or lack thereof) streets around campus? Do we get out of bed each morning anxiously waiting to walk to campus along the slippery sidewalks? We don’t just endure this weather because, again, misery loves company.

We know the feeling of walking to class in just a sweatshirt on that sunny April day, lingering snow piles still melting around us. We love the final weeks of spring semester when 50 degrees feels sweltering so we lay in the quad wearing shorts and T-shirts. We daydream about summer weekends spent at cabins up north, drifting around the lake in a pontoon. We anticipate the picture-perfect rows of trees down Summit Avenue as the leaves change in the fall. We know it all leads into another miserable winter, but we love the rest of the year in Minnesota too much to leave.

Anne Gaslin can be reached at gasl8257@stthomas.edu.