How Warm Will Christmas Week Be?

It has felt more like winter over the past few days with some snow falling on Friday. That is going to change quickly, though. The jet will lift north as a warm front swings through the region on Sunday afternoon, turning our winds southwesterly, meaning warmer air will move into the area. Middle 40's are likely Sunday afternoon with middle 40's expected to remain in place throughout Sunday night into Monday morning.
And we don't really see a cool down, despite the cold front that will move through Monday morning. The pattern will allow mild temperatures to remain in place all week long, including for the Christmas holiday. In fact, it doesn't look like a single day of the next seven will feature high temperatures below 40°. That is simply unprecedented for this time of year.

A storm system will develop on Tuesday in South Dakota and strengthen as it moves eastward towards the region. It will likely track to our north up into Central Wisconsin, which means we will be on the warm side of the system until it drags a cold front through, which will happen late on Wednesday. Therefore, our warmest day of the week will come on Wednesday when the Stateline sits in the "warm sector" of low pressure system.

Ahead of these wintertime storm systems that strengthen in the Midwest usually exists much warmer air, which will hold true this time. In fact, records may be broken to our east, where 60's and 70's will surge north. For the Stateline, lower to perhaps middle 50's will likely be the highest we get.

To put it in perspective, our average high temperature on Wednesday (the 23rd), is 31°. Currently we are forecasting a high temperature of 55°. The record high for the date is 57°, which was set back in 1941. So while it may not break any records, the mild air will return next week.