A Warm Christmas Expected, In Already Record-Breaking Winter

Oklahoma City will see a high of 57 degrees on Christmas Eve, nine degrees above normal.

In Birmingham, the National Weather Service says the temperature rose to 73 degrees overnight, setting a record high for a low temperature for December 23.

Between 6 a.m. and noon, when many local youngsters will likely be tearing into gifts, the temperature is expected to rise from 47 degrees to 55 degrees. A high of 68 was observed in Shippensburg and around Chambersburg, easily breaking the old record.

Five of the six New England states were completely free of snow cover, with snow only on the ground in northern Maine.

Saturday will be the coldest day of the week, with the high temperature set for just 26 degrees in Flagstaff. Christmas Eve temperatures reached into the high 70s and the warm weather is threatening to break Christmas highs as well.

It’s all part of an unseasonable warm wave across the Eastern U.S. that meteorologists have jokingly called a “blowtorch” on social media, according to weather.com.

In Phoenix, Arizona, it’s only 64 degrees – chilly for a state that boasts year-round sun and warm weather.

The mercury is expected to hit the mid-60s in New York City on Christmas Day. Rounds of showers will move through all weekend and into early next week…In the wake of a soggy, dreary weekend, cooler temperatures slide in by mid next week, with day time highs in the 30s.

But the Antelope Valley is in for cold snap and possibly a white Christmas, the NWS said. The average Christmas Eve temperature in Buffalo is 34. Even a weather station near Montreal, Quebec, Canada recorded temperatures of 70 in mid-morning, and records have been broken in other cities along the East coast on Thursday.

A particularly strong El Nino is reportedly behind the weird and destructive weather. “The jet stream allows warm air to stream up into our area”, Gilt said.

While he’s expecting January and February may be milder than normal: “There will be days where you wish you were somewhere else”, he said.