2011 - 2012 Winter Weather Threatens Occupy Wall Street

Oct 26, 2011
An early season snowstorm affected Occupy Denver that sent Wall Street protesters to the hospital for hypothermia this last Tuesday. This scenario may unfold again as the U.S. is heading toward a predicted rough winter and the people at these events may be putting their lives in peril. I'm neutral on the whole issue of their agenda, but wanted to express the dangers of winter weather.

I'm not sure if you have listened to the news media meteorologists but the winter of 2011-2012 may be a brutal one. Now I know you're thinking they say that every year but let's look at the facts. The U.S. is now into their second straight La Nina pattern and will persist through much of early 2012. This pattern brings higher chances of much colder air into the northern U.S. and heavier snow across the Northwest, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. The thought of cold, low wind chills, hypothermia, snow and ice makes people want to stay inside for obvious reasons. The Occupy Wall Street protesters will side step the winter weather threats and will risk their health. Why?

I'm from Wisconsin and have seen the uprising in Madison earlier this year. They slept outside of the capital in tents for days until they were finally told to leave by police. They were determined at keeping their cause alive no matter what the circumstances. They took advantage of the nice weather to prosper and it allowed them to continue to rally their message effectively into the summer. The Occupy Wall Street movement will continue the same "no matter what" attitude despite the winter weather conditions.

Denver Snowstorm

The first demonstration started on September 19, 2011 in New York City and the weather was pretty comfortable. The movement has spread across the country to large metropolitan cities. The weather so far has cooperated.

However, on October 25, 2011 the dark side of mother nature made unwelcomed visit to Denver. Last week the weather in Colorado was nice and it even hit 80 degrees for a high temperature just this last weekend! Perfect weather to protest, yet Denver's weather can be very unpredictable. As a result, two days later, fall was acting like winter. An early season storm system hit the Rockies and dumped 4-10 inches of snow in the Denver metropolitan area. This caused major problems for the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators. Below, a man in the video says, "they need shelter or else people are going to die." Well he's right; people do die in weather weather but they are so determined that the cold won't push them away and that's dangerous.



The Occupy Denver Facebook page was quoted - "5 protesters already taken to the hospital today because of severe winter weather conditions. Tent's being illegally set up to promote health and safety of protesters."

This scenario will be more probable as the weeks and months go on as we head into winter. Police will have to step in and tell the Occupy Wall Street activists to leave. Imagine had Occupy New Orleans resisted calls to depart as Hurricane Katrina was making landfall. We know how that all turned out in reality with over 1,000 people killed. Yet, we aren't dealing with a hurricane and cold weather isn't looked at as being dangerous but it should be. The National Institute of Aging estimates that of the 28,000 people hypothermia kills every year!

Maybe battling mother nature's elements this winter will give them the support they are looking for by suffering in the elements. Occupy Denver should be a wake up call that the winter of 2011/ 2012 will be a rough one to ride out and it only will get worse.

New York City Snowstorm - Occupy Wall Street Activists Suffer Hypothermia

The northeast was hit by a rare October snowstorm this last weekend that caused millions to lose power. The heavy wet snow combined with the weight of leaves on trees caused many to become damaged. Powerlines were brought down by the wind and fallen branches. Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York were tested as they hunkered down in tents and kept warm by using blankets. According to sources 10 people were treated for hypothermia. Below is video of wet snow falling in Liberty Square.

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