This December, record warmth has been known to be a common phenomenon all over the country. More records are expected to be broken in the Southeast and South Central United States as Christmas approaches.
Record-breaking Weather Expected in the US
As a high pressure system forms over the Southeast and a storm moves in and spins over the northern Rockies, the heat will arrive just in time for Christmas Eve and Christmas.
AccuWeather Meteorologist Isaac Longley said: "Due to the position of these two systems, very warm air originating from Mexico will be pulled northward into the south-central U.S., leading to the record-breaking weather."
With high pressure anchored over the Gulf of Mexico, the warm weather is expected to linger for a few more days, even until Christmas Day in the South Central states, according to Accuweather.
Just a few years ago, a number of communities in the south-central United States had their hottest Christmas on record.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski stated that Dec. 25 was warm for most of the area in both 2015 and 2016, with several records for the day still intact from one of those years.
Temperature in Dallas May Reach 80 Degrees on Christmas Day
On Dec. 25, 2016, Dallas set a new record for the hottest Christmas Day in the city's history, reaching 80 degrees.
Meanwhile, temperatures climbed to 76 degrees Fahrenheit in Nashville and 73 degrees Fahrenheit in Oklahoma City on the same day in 2016, according to Sosnowski.
On Dec. 25, 2015, New Orleans hit a new record high of 82 degrees, while Houston recorded an 83, and Atlanta set a new daily record high of 75 degrees for Christmas Day. In some of these places, it's possible that the record books may need to be rewritten once again.
AccuWeather predicts that Dallas will achieve an all-time high of 80 degrees on Christmas Day this year.
Temperatures in the low 80s are expected throughout the city on Christmas Eve. It's possible that a number of additional cities might lose their Dec. 25 record highs this year. Highs of 84 and 79 are expected in Houston and New Orleans, respectively, on Sunday.
Temperatures in Nashville and Atlanta are not predicted to break records, but they are projected to reach 60 degrees, which is 10-15 degrees above usual.
The Weather Could Possibly Impact Holiday Travel
In spite of the prediction of warm and dry weather, there is a chance that holiday travel will affected. In addition to the dry weather, strong gusts are expected on Christmas Eve as a result of this configuration. Longley said that the combination of flames and risky driving conditions would be a major worry.
In addition to the billowing dust, the high winds might make travel more difficult. A dust storm in Kansas earlier this month resulted in dangerous flames that damaged buildings. Guymon, Oklahoma, was evacuated last week due to a wildfire in the state's panhandle region.
In addition to the South Central states, some sections of the United States have already seen record-breaking temperatures this month. As recently as early this month, temperatures in the Northeast were comparable to those of April.
Washington, D.C. hit a high of 70 degrees on December 11, while New York City, Philadelphia, and Buffalo, New York, all reached the mid-to-upper 60s. On the 16th of December, temperatures in portions of the Northeast once again surged into the 60s.
A daily record high of 64 degrees was recorded in Buffalo. It was only a day after that, that Washington D.C. established a new daily record high temperature of 65 degrees.
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