The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1322401
As you read this, the short- term forecast outlook will give you a good idea of the chance for a White Christ- mas on Friday. But what are the chances for any given year that a location will have at least an inch of snow on the ground on Christmas Day? The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) have provided the answers with data available in map form at climate.gov. The easiest way to access the news release may be to use your favorite search engine with the term "ncei white Christmas." For those who choose not to access the in - ternet, here is the skinny on the snow. For those who do not cele- brate Christmas, think of the map as chances for snow on the ground on Dec. 25, early winter, and certainly not the date where one would have the greatest chance of snow on the ground climatological- ly. The coldest temperatures in winter tend to fall about a month or slightly more after the solstice, so late January has the best chance for snow cov- erage around the lower 48. For users, the NCEI map breaks down into colors by percentiles, but in- dividual station data is avail- able. In general, to guaran- tee a White Christmas in the Midwest, one needs to head north through Wisconsin and Minnesota, right into Cana- da. A left into Canada would probably also be sufficient. The closest to a guarantee in the Midwest falls at Ber- gland Dam in the Upper Pen- insula of Michigan with a 98 percent chance of an inch of snow on the ground on Dec. 25. International Falls, Min- nesota, notoriously the cold- est place in the Midwest, falls close behind with a 97 percent chance. Outside the Midwest, places like Telluride and Silverton, Colo., have a 99 percent chance, but the data is very hesitant before guar- anteeing an inch of snow. To guarantee no chance of a White Christmas, one must not head very far south. Hop - kinsville, Ky., has a two per- cent chance of an inch of snow on Christmas, while Dickson, Tenn., has only a one percent chance. True zeros start to fall in northern Mississippi and Alabama and continue south. Heading a little east, Georgia is spared a chance at snow, but the Appalachian effect is seen with areas of North Carolina rebounding up to a 41 percent chance at Mt. Mitchell. In our area, we lie in a tran- sition zone from less than a 10 percent chance to a lit- tle higher than a 10 percent chance. Mt. Vernon has a 10 percent chance. Tell City has a two percent chance, with all this data based on 1981- 2010 climatological normals. Newburgh has a seven per- cent chance, while the Evans- ville Museum has an 11 per- cent chance. Odds increase to 18 percent up in McCutchan- ville, with the Evansville Air- port back down to an 11 per- cent chance. Boonville gets a 13 percent chance. Gibson County has no official station that can be used for records, but Pike County near Peters- burg has a 12 percent chance. Vincennes gets a 16 percent chance, which makes the Mc- Cutchanville site something of an outlier in our area. Al- though Santa Claus, Ind., has no site, Saint Meinrad has an 11 percent chance. The best chance of a White Christmas in Indiana is un- surprising in the lake effect area near Michiana. South Bend has a 48 percent chance of an inch of snow on Christ- mas. This statistic does mean that the odds are against a White Christmas anywhere in our state, although a short trip into Michigan will in- crease odds to favor an inch of snow. For more information on climatological records, contact Hans at hschmitz@ purdue.edu or 812-838 -1331. The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, December 23, 2020 D-3 Down on the Farm By Hans Schmitz, Purdue Extension Educator Purdue Extension—Pike County news By Kristen Lowry Chances of a White Christmas SMART Steps in 2021 To enter the Birthday Club, email your name, ad- dress, phone number and birthdate to birthdayclub@ pressdispatch.net. Only the person's name, town and birth- day will appear in the paper. As an added bonus, one lucky person each month will receive a free three month Press-Dispatch subscription. This month's birthdays have a chance to win a free pizza gift certificate from Fish Hut Pizza, in Petersburg. THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS Mary Williams ........................... Petersburg .........12/24 Mary "Kate"Williams ................ Petersburg .........12/24 Martha Risley ............................... Velpen ............12/25 Martha Risley ............................... Velpen ............12/25 Lora Carlisle ............................ Petersburg ........12/27 Linda Osborne ........................... Spurgeon ..........12/28 THIS MONTH'S SPONSOR Corner of 9th & Sycamore • Petersburg 812-354-9046 www.fishhutpizza.com Social Security Matters By Rusty Gloor Should a working widow claim now or wait? REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS Kent Hyneman and Deborah Ann Hyneman convey to State of Indiana, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Roger Willis PR, Stanley Willis PR, Larry Robert Wil- lis Estate deceased and Estate of Larry Robert Willis con- vey to Roger Willis and Stanley Robert Willis, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Larry Robert Willis Estate, Larry Robert Willis de- ceased, Roger Willis PR and Stanley Willis PR convey to Stanley Robert Willis, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Sweetwater Leasing, LLC conveys to Green Door Prop- erties, LLC, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Darrell J. Coomer conveys to Jeffrey L. Hockensmith, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Dustin R. Willis conveys to Indiana Bureau of Motor Ve- hicles, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Archer Daniels Midland Company conveys to Anson Farm Services, LLC, real estate as recorded in Pike Coun- ty. Timothy R. Aull conveys to TR A Holdings/Ind, LLC, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Charles Hyatt, Jr. conveys to Phillip Jacob Sisk and Jalah Dawn Barnes, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Benny D. Thomas conveys to Keith D. Garretson, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Dean A. Harris and Donna J. Harris convey to Shari D. Millikan, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Fred D. McCrary and Patsy Z. McCrary convey to David McDaniel Revocable Living Trust and Patricia A. McDan- iel Living Trust, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Dear Rusty: My husband died 13 years ago at age 50. I am now 64, never remar- ried, and work full time mak- ing a healthy income. I have never claimed any of his ben- efits. What are my best options? Signed: Work- ing Widow. Dear Work- ing Widow: You have sever- al options available as both a widow and a worker entitled to your own Social Security benefit. 1. You could collect a re- duced survivor benefit (only) from your deceased husband and allow your own SS bene- fit to grow to a larger amount. At age 70, your own benefit will be about 29 percent more than it will be at your full re- tirement age, or FR A, which is 66 years and 4 months (your own benefit stops growing at age 70). If you take your survi- vor benefit now, since you are claiming it before you reach your FR A it will be reduced by about 11 percent from the amount your husband was el- igible to receive at his death. But at your FR A your survi- vor benefit would reach the maxi- mum of 100 per- cent of what your husband was eligi- ble for at his death. 2. If your survi- vor benefit from your husband at your FR A will be more than your own benefit will be at age 70, you should strive to maximize your survivor benefit by wait- ing until your FR A to claim it. You can find out what your survivor benefit will be by con- tacting Social Security. They can also tell you what your age 70 benefit will be, but you can get that too by creating your "My Social Security" account, which is easy to do at www. ssa.gov/myaccount. 3. If your own benefit at age 70 will be your highest bene- fit, you should strive to maxi- mize your personal benefit by claiming your survivor ben- efit (only) first, as described in 1. above, and delaying the claim for your own benefits until age 70. But here's a big red flag: since you still work full time at a "healthy income," be aware that if you claim any SS ben- efit before you have reached your full retirement age, you'll be subject to Social Security's "earnings test" which limits how much you can earn be- fore they take away some of your benefits. The earnings limit for 2021 will be $18,960 (changes annually) and if you are collecting early SS ben- efits of any type and exceed that limit, they will take back benefits equal to $1 for every $2 you are over the limit (half of what you exceed the limit by). The earnings test is in ef- fect until you reach your full retirement age, after which there is no longer a limit to how much you can earn while collecting benefits. So, what is your best op- tion, considering the above? Well, if your earnings from work are substantially more than the annual earnings lim- it, you may find that you will not receive any benefits, even if you were to claim. That's because they will "take back" benefits by withholding your future Social Security pay- ments until they recover what you owe. For example, if your annual earnings are $ 60,000, you would exceed the limit by about $41,000, which would mean you would need to repay them $20,500. If your month- ly SS benefit was about $1500 (about average), they would withhold benefits for about 14 months to recover what you owe, meaning you wouldn't be getting any SS benefits while you were earning that much money. Thus, you may find your best option right now is to wait until your FR A to claim any Social Security benefits. In the interest of full dis- closure, there are some nu- ances related to the earnings limit. The limit is higher, and the penalty less punitive, in the year you reach your FR A (during the months before you reach your FR A). And while you may gradually recover withheld SS retirement bene- fits starting at your FR A, sur- vivor benefits withheld before your FR A may not be fully re- covered, depending upon how long after your FR A you col- lect them. To submit a question, visit our website (amacfoundation. org/programs/social-securi- ty-advisory) or email us at ss- advisor@amacfoundation.org. The Press-Dispatch 812-354-8500 | www.pressdispatch.net *By enrolling in the Birthday Club, you agree to have your name, town and birth- day, or the person's name and town and birthday of whom you are enrolling, printed in e Press-Dispatch on the week in which the birthday occurs. Joining is easy! Visit pressdispatch.net/birthday or send your full name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number and birthdate to birthdayclub@pressdispatch.net.* Each week, a list of birthdays will be published in the paper! You could win a FREE PRIZE from area businesses and a three-month subscription to e Press-Dispatch. MUST RE-ENROLL EVERY YEAR! Join the One WINNER is drawn at the end of each month Does 2020 have you think- ing of how you can start fresh in 2021? This has been a year for the record books and prob- ably has you thinking of ways you can make a difference in your life and those around you in the New Year. Accord- ing to proactivemindfulness. com, 40 -45 percent of adults in America make a New Year's Resolution. However, after the first month, only 64 percent of those adults are continuing with that resolution. Statistics also state that after the first six months, only 46 percent have stuck with their goals. Purdue Extension Health and Human Science Educa- tors want to help you be a part of the 46 percent of adults in American who stick to their personal goals in the com- ing year. We will help get you into the right mindset with Starting 2021 with the Smart Foot First to make this your best year yet. January's vir- tual Lunch 'N Learn series will educate you on what a SMART goal is, how you can set SMART goals in your life, Resolve to Move forward with positive health habits, and Navigating through the Diet Maze. This series will take place on January 4, 11th, and 25th, starting at 11 a.m. CST/12 (noon) EST and will last for one hour. All participants must preregister by going to https://bit.ly/Resolve2021 prior to our first class on Janu- ary 4, 2021. Upon registration, you will receive a Zoom link and access to the recordings after these educational events. Zoom requires a Smartphone or other device with an inter- net connection to participate. The goal is to help you lose those unwanted habits and gain the knowledge to move forward on the SMART path. If you have questions about the Purdue Extension work- shop, contact Meagan Broth- ers at brotherm@purdue.edu.