Mild December weather returns next week heading towards Christmas

The cold snap expected to hit to start the weekend will be brief as temperatures will climb well above-average for late December heading into next week towards the Christmas holiday.

The upper-air flow heading into next week is expected to be primarily zonal, or west-to-east, which will allow for some “mild” Pacific air to move into the region sending temperatures well above-average.

Temperatures are expected to push into the lower-to-middle 30s from Monday through Christmas Day. Night lows will be in the 20s.

A low pressure system is expected to dive into the southwest U.S. sometime toward the middle and end of next week which will amplify the jet stream further north across the Upper Midwest bringing in another push of mild December air leading to temperatures that may hover around 40° by the end of the week into the weekend.

The week looks to be fairly quiet, however a disturbance may sneak through the area on Monday bringing the chance of light rain or snow. There is still some uncertainty on the track of that system which will become clearer heading into the weekend. Otherwise, travel across the region looks to be good for the Christmas holiday.