Thursday, 4:30 PM
A warm December is good for the mail (mostly)
Although the warm weather has made the busiest mail season bearable, postal workers still face a host of pitfalls and hazards on the daily route. Above, a tow truck dragged a mail van down Beacon Street today. (David L. Ryan / Globe Staff Photo)
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent
This time of year, Harry Judd is usually bundled up with two layers under his heavy US Postal Service jacket, trudging his route with a 50-pound sack of holiday cards and packages on his back.
Not this balmy December, with temperatures running 10 degrees above average for the last five days. Judd, who delivers the mail in Bay Village, has almost been tempted to venture out in short sleeves.
"It's like spring," said Judd, who has been with the post office for 23 years. "I feel like we are coming out of winter instead of coming into the winter. Recently, it has really been a pleasure delivering the mail."
Instead of fighting with scarves and gloves and keeping an eye out for patches of ice, Judd and his fellow letter carries have been blessed by unseasonably warm weather at just the right time.
Post office officials expected today to be the busiest mailing day of the year, predicting that some 280 million letters would be sent, or up to three times the daily average. Officials anticipate that Wednesday will be the heaviest delivery day.
Forecasters predict that Judd and other letter carriers should be able to continue walking their routes without really heavy winter gear at least through Christmas.
While temperatures are expected to dip on Tuesday and Wednesday with highs just below 40 degrees, the air is supposed to warm back up over the weekend with temperatures in the 50s.
"It's very unlikely that we would see a white Christmas right now," said Charlie Foley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. "But things can always surprise us."
Christmas Eve is expected to be partly cloudy with a high just shy of 50 degrees, while the next day is supposed to be a littler cooler with a chance of rain. For Judd, a forecast with no snow is like a holiday gift.
"I'd be fine if I never saw snow again except in pictures and mountains," he said.
