| The Weather Outside's Delightful As Retailers Sweat Out the Season, Rest of Us Bask in Unusual Warmth By Jacqueline L. Salmon, Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 4, 1998; Page One It's beginning to look a lot like, well, like springtime. Amid the glitter and tinsel of the holiday season are some incongruous sights: golf courses crowded with duffers, tourists in shorts checking out the Christmas tree at New York City's Rockefeller Center, Washington area suburbanites buying garden tools instead of snow shovels, and cafe patrons in Boston sipping their cappuccinos at outside tables. A warm snap in much of the United States and Canada has delighted bicyclists and joggers, confused polar bears, frustrated holiday sales-minded retailers, and left plenty of folks just a bit turned around. "I don't feel like Christmas, I feel like Easter," said Meni Peri, 36, hairstylist and manager of the Piaf salon in downtown Washington. He was taking a cigarette break outside in a short-sleeved shirt. The night before, he had decked his porch in Columbia Heights with Christmas lights while wearing shorts. "It's beautiful," Peri said, "but it's strange." For the last three weeks, weather in the eastern two-thirds of the United States has resembled May instead of November. Temperatures have run as much as 20 degrees above normal in the upper Midwest, the Rockies, Midwest and most of the East Coast, the result of warm air that has parked itself over much of North America. Here in the mid-Atlantic, daytime temperatures have hovered in the high 60s and low 70s, compared with normal highs in the 50s. Yesterday, the thermometer hit a record 74 at Dulles International Airport, far exceeding the 1972 record of 64 degrees. Dulles also warmed to a record 73 degrees Sunday. At Reagan National Airport, temperatures have been above average for days -- 67 on Tuesday and 65 Wednesday and yesterday, well above the usual low 50s. Other cities are also luxuriating in weather more conducive to grilling hamburgers than roasting chestnuts. New York City moved into record territory yesterday with a balmy 66 degrees. Records were also set in Sioux Falls, S.D., where it hit 63; in Milwaukee, at 64; and in Harrisburg, Pa., which reached 72. Detroit, usually in the 40s, is basking in 60-degree weather. The mild weather is contributing to unusual warmth across the United States in 1998. The year is expected to go down in history as the second-hottest on record, according the National Climate Data Center. The Northeast, including Maryland, is expected to log its warmest year ever. In he Southeast, including Virginia, forecasters expect the second-hottest on record. The spring like air has broken November-December routines in ways that are mostly welcome, but sometimes disconcerting. At Summit Hall Elementary School in Gaithersburg yesterday, Shendel Haimes's second-graders sat outside -- no jackets needed -- to read about a ladybug. "With this weather, who knows? There might even be some bugs listening to us," Haimes told her students. Sure enough, a few moments later, a fly flew overhead, causing a flurry of "oooohs." At Reston Town Center, dozens of office workers and shoppers rolled up their sleeves, donned sunglasses and relaxed on patio chairs. "It's so ironic to be sitting here basking in the sun with the Christmas decorations, the holiday music and people ice skating," said Jody Cindric, 38, a computer engineer visiting from Philadelphia, as she enjoyed a salad under a 50-foot Christmas tree. "This is just wonderful." At Reston Ice Skating Pavilion, the warm weather has been a mixed blessing. Business is up, but keeping the ice has been tough. The trick: Shaving the ice thin so it's easier to keep cold. Homeowners also were adjusting, doing home-improvement projects usually reserved for spring. "We're having all these wonderful increases in sales of gardening and outdoor-related products," said Sally Courtney, senior vice president for Hechinger. "But the heaters are sitting on the shelf." In Chicago, where it has been mostly sunny and in the 50s and 60s for the last 10 days, bikers and runners have swarmed jogging trails, and downtown benches and parks have been filled with people eating outdoor lunches, many in shirt sleeves. The dry, temperate weather has provided no relief for farmers, however. The mid-Atlantic region is gripped by a drought entering its sixth month that has dried up streams, threatened the water supply in some areas, and increased wildfires. This week, Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III declared a precautionary state of emergency because of the fire danger across Virginia. Retailers also are sweating out the Christmas season. Warm weather already has melted November sales at some of the nation's biggest retailers. Industry analysts warn that unless the mercury drops soon, stores could be in for a rough ride. "Let's put it this way: When you have a store and you're sitting with a lot of cold weather merchandise and weather is 72 degrees, guess what?" said Nancy Chistolini, a spokeswoman for Hecht's. "At this point in time, we're not clearing out our coats and inventory of cold weather wear, but who knows?" Harriet Kassman, owner of Harriet Kassman boutique in the District's Mazza Gallerie, said sales of hats, gloves and oats have been sluggish for weeks. And -- given a warm forecast into next week -- she fears many of her customers will postpone their holiday gift-buying for yet another weekend. "They want to go where the sun shines, because they're so afraid it won't last long," Kassman said. Canada, too, is experiencing the warmest fall on record, on the heels of the warmest summer and spring, say the watchdogs at Environment Canada. "The country's got a fever," said climatologist David Phillips. In the tiny town of Churchill, on the western edge of Hudson Bay, bewildered polar bears are overrunning the town. Churchill is on the natural migration route for the bears as they make their way each November across the ice, but with the Hudson waters still lapping on the shore, the bears have nowhere to go. Wayde Roberts, the natural resources officer, said he has put more than 100 bears into the town's "bear prison" this fall after trapping or tranquilizing them. What's behind the daiquiris-in-December weather? Should Santa ditch the sleigh and hand Rudolph the sunblock? The warm spell can be credited mostly to a warm air mass from the south that has settled over the eastern United States. That has pushed the polar jet stream -- a high-altitude river of wind that brings winter storms and frosty air into the United States and southeastern Canada -- farther north. For weeks, that polar stream has blown across Iceland and swooped down into Europe and northern Africa. In Poland, where record-low cold has gripped the country since mid-November, 71 people have frozen to death. Part of the reason is La Nina, a global weather pattern that is succeeding the notorious El Nino. La Nina, Spanish for "little girl," is disrupting normal jet stream paths and is expected to bring cool, wet weather to the Northwest this winter and relatively warm conditions to the Southeast. Meteorologists are still arguing over how the pattern will affect the Washington area. But the current stretch of warmth is expected to vanish by early next week, with a forecast calling for the high 40s on Wednesday.
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