It’s not looking like we’ll have a “white Christmas” this year. Instead, high temperatures on Christmas Eve are expected to break records.
“Well at this time, Christmas Eve/Day, is looking very warm. The high temperature we’re expecting in the Dover area will be 76 degrees," said Lance Franck, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Station in Mount Holly New Jersey.
76 degrees is also expected to be the high in Georgetown on Thursday, where the last record temperature on Christmas Eve, 69 degrees, came just last year.
But unlike last year, we’ve been having unusually warm temperatures all month. Franck notes the big difference between this and last year.
“The pattern we’re seeing that’s leading to the warm temperatures is really the reverse of last winter and has a lot to do with the jet stream," said Franck.
The jet stream is that river of air that hovers 20,000 to 30,000 feet above us in the atmosphere. Last year, we were under a trough in the jet stream that allowed cold arctic air to move down to us. This year, we’re under what’s called a ridge, which brings up warm air from the tropics.
The weather on Christmas Eve is going to be otherwise cloudy, with a 50 percent chance of some light rain. And on Christmas Day, temperatures will range from the mid to upper 60s throughout the state. The clouds will clear up to show the first Christmas full moon since 1977.
The National Weather Service expects that temperatures will remain above normal going into New Year’s Day.
