Tuesday, Dec. 21 this year marks the winter solstice - with the year’s fewest hours of daylight and the official first day of winter. The winter season, which brings Delaware’s coldest temperatures, will continue until the vernal equinox and the first day of spring on March 21.

Though Delaware’s winters in recent years have not been cold enough for much ice skating, this picture postcard from 1909, showing skaters on a pond near Wyoming - south of Dover - reminds us of winters past when freezing temperatures have changed our landscape to something more reminiscent of traditional, cold-country winters.