Warm December days mean more time on the beach. Castle built at Cape Henlopen State Park on Dec. 12 by Andrew West
DOVER — White Christmas? Dream on, Bing.
Maybe it’s just as well since some of us really prefer a mild winter — and take advantage of it.
A few days ago, Rich King, of Delaware Surf Fishing, said he’s thinking about heading out to the beach for the sunrise. He and others still are enjoying the mild weather and extended fishing opportunities.
The early forecasts suggest we’ll have a sunny Christmas with a high around 60 degrees. No chance of snow.
Delaware hasn’t had an appreciable snow on Christmas Day since 1998 when a little more than an inch covered the Dover area.
Interestingly, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says Delaware has a less than 10 percent chance annually for snow of more than an inch.
WBOC meteorologist Brian Keane says warm winter wishers might want to be careful what they wish for.
“I keep hearing folks say things like, ‘bring on the 70s!’ and ‘I hope we don’t have a Winter this year,’ ” he wrote in a recent blog post. “Well not having a winter could deliver all kinds of disaster (which I will not delve into in this here temperature rant) to Delmarva! We live in a climate with four distinct seasons, and when patterns drastically change, its more than a little disturbing to us scientists.
“Even if it does pan out to be a warmer than average winter, Mother Nature still likes to come close to leveling things out. They call it an average high temperature for a reason folks! So we’ve been a good 15-25 degrees above average over the last 2-3 weeks … catch my drift here? Remember last February when the bays, and even the ocean started to freeze over?”
Who can forget last winter’s extreme temps and conditions?
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Our friends from The Airlifter, the newspaper of the Dover Air Force Base published in a collaborative effort with the Delaware State News, had a fun feature on winter preparations this week.
“Winter is coming” — the line from HBO’s “Game of Thrones” – was used in the headline.
Tech. Sgt. Rebecca Jones, 436th Operations Support Squadron Weather Flight chief, is among those who make sure the base is ready for whatever the weather brings.
“Based off of climate and the models, we can get an idea of what the season is going to be like,” said Tech. Sgt. Jones in the story. “Everything is pointing to it being mild, in terms of temperature, but with an increase in precipitation.”
“Because temperatures are going to be mild, we really aren’t looking at there being a ton of snow. The possibility is we will have freezing rain events and an average amount of snow.”
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Getting back to Rich King, we have some exciting news about a new feature in the Delaware State News.
Starting Thursday, we will introduce an outdoors column written in the same lively, informative tone that he uses in his frequent blog posts at delaware-surf-fishing.com.
Not only does Mr. King lure readers in with fishing reports, he always has a nose for environmental news and a keen eye for the surprises of the beach.
One of his recent posts made note of the Christmas full moon, which is a first since 1977. “December’s full moon is known as the full cold moon or the full long night’s moon and sometimes, the moon before yule,” he wrote.
He also noted that Christmas might offer a cool view of something at 5:43 p.m., looking up about 27 degrees from southwest to south-southeast.
It might just be light reflecting off Santa’s sleigh.
Or it could be the International Space Station.
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Next Sunday, look for this editor’s annual year-in-review roundup with some of the most memorable front pages from 2015.
We will also feature the first of two Year-in-Photos packages from Dave Chambers.
And, you’ll want to check out Craig Horleman’s year of entertainment in review in this week’s Finally Friday! No doubt, Sir Paul McCartney’s appearance will be high on the list.
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From all of us at the Delaware State News, we wish you a joyous holiday season.
And as Bing said, “may your days be merry and bright” — even if your Christmas isn’t white.
Andrew West is managing editor of the Delaware State News.