Unseasonably Warm Weather Extending Oklahoma Lake Season

The Army Corps of Engineers will open the gates at Keystone Dam. Keystone Lake is about 6.5-feet above normal because of runoff from the last month.

The gates open at 10:00 Wednesday morning and when they do, 150,000 gallons of water will flow through the dam every second.

About 80 miles to the northeast, at another Oklahoma lake, the nice weather is keeping boaters on the water and eagle watching enjoyable.

Some might think “Lake Season” is over, but at Grand Lake, people are taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather; they're eagle watching, fishing and even going out on the lake.

Jerry Cookson at Cedar Port Marina said, "This is unusual to have this kind of weather for this time of year."

Cookson said boaters kept their boats out on the water longer than normal this year.

"Boating went a long time this year. There were people who didn't even winterize their boats before the Christmas parade," he said.

On the other side of the dam, we found a convocation of eagles. The nice temperatures made it perfect to see them hunting and nesting along the banks of the Grand River.

Meteorologists say this is the fourth warmest December on record; the warmest date was recorded more than seven decades ago.

Angler Greg Turner said, "Beautiful weather. This morning it was a little chilly with that frost on, but it turned out nice."

Turner used the nice day to cast a line and get a picnic together with his family; he wasn't expecting it to be as warm as it was.

"I'm not knocking the nice weather,” he said. “I just hope it's a short phase and not something serious, you know what I'm saying?"

"I'd like a white Christmas, but I'll take a sunny Christmas too," said cyclist Tonya Robinson.

She and her family took advantage of the off-season traffic to get some miles on their bicycles.

“It's amazing. Who would've thought it would be this warm in December," she said.

Boat experts said the water is about 50-degrees in the middle of December, but once the temperatures start to dip, it might be a good time to get your boat winterized or out of the water.