Wearing tank tops one day and jackets the next, students are struggling through extreme daily changes in the weather.

Ryan Pac (junior-marketing) said the weather is staying cold for longer than in past years, in addition to dramatic ups and downs in temperature from day to day.

"Change in fluctuations made me more susceptible to germs," he said. "I missed almost a week of class with a fever and bacterial tonsil infection."

Though many people think the changing temperatures increase vulnerability to sickness, the beginning of allergy season may be the real cause, said Kathy Petroff, University Health Services (UHS) nurse manager.

"Lots of things run down the immune system," Petroff said.

Students are not as cheerful in cold weather or the recently unpredictable weather, and outlook can affect health, she said.

Toward the end of the semester, students may be pulling longer hours and not getting the necessary rest and nutrition required to stay healthy, she said.

This may also be largely to blame for a peak in colds and other minor sicknesses around this time, she added.

Either way, Petroff said, UHS has seen nearly the same number of patients this winter and early spring as in previous years.

As long as students dress appropriately for cold weather, it should not affect their health, Petroff said. However, with the weather changing so quickly and drastically, many students feel unprepared.

"One day you can wear shorts, and the next day you have to wear a sweatshirt and pants," Brian VanDeusen (freshman-biology) said.

Not knowing what to expect each morning, VanDeusen said he has overestimated temperatures and has been uncomfortable walking to class.

Variations in weather are expected to be most dramatic in the early spring, said Ed Skirkie (senior-meteorology) of the Campus Weather Service.

"It's a battlefield between the warm air and the cold air," Skirkie said. "We're in the middle of a transition period from winter to summer," he said.

Though the spring transition includes dramatic fluctuations every year, the recent extremes in State College are an anomaly, he said. The northeastern and western parts of the country are experiencing unusual weather patterns right now, Skirkie said.

Some meteorologists attribute the abnormalities to global warming, but "it's more of a random thing," he added. "It's just the way the patterns flow."