Crowds choose Christmas sand over snow at Cocoa Beach
COCOA BEACH, Fla. (FOX 35 WOFL) - Crowds packed Cocoa Beach on Christmas Day despite highs in only the upper 60’s.
Many lining the beaches at the Cocoa Beach Pier gladly chose board shorts and bikinis despite the breeze. After-all, a chilly day in Florida still beat out the temperatures where many of them traveled from for the holiday.
As of Monday afternoon, temperatures reached only the low 40s in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, the mid-30s in New York, and those areas likely felt summery compared to the -3 degree range in Minneapolis or -10 range in Minot, ND.
"We prefer this, absolutely,” said Alex Vertelka who was visiting with his family from a snowy Virginia Beach. "It's snowing at home and we've got our toes in the sand and catching waves this morning."
"It's a different kind or Christmas but I definitely kind of like it,” said Ricki Rothchild from Long Island, NY. "Yeah, white caps are certainly better than white snow.”
Many beach goers even brought the holiday with them to the ocean-side. Some wore Santa hats as they surfed while others made “snow men” out of the sand and put up makeshift Christmas trees made from twigs and ornaments next to their beach towels.