Mid-Missouri to experience one of warmest Christmases in 30 years

The bitter cold this past weekend is finally in our rearview mirror and now is the time to shift gears into Christmas weekend. It’s one of the most anticipated holidays and many look forward to waking up to a white Christmas, but here in Mid-Missouri that won’t be the case this year.

The arctic blast has exited to our east and in it’s place a warming trend will take hold that will carry us into Christmas Day. Historically speaking, it’s very rare to see temperatures 50 or above for Christmas, and in the past 30 years it has only happened 4 times, the most recent being 2014 when the temperature was 52 degrees. While this years forecasted high of near 60 won’t be a record (69 degrees back in 1971), it will be a warm one. In fact, this weekend, the temperatures will be about 50-55 degrees warmer than this past weekend.

Thanks to a strong cold front that will be to our northwest, Mid-Missouri will be in southerly flow. This flow will rapidly warm us up as we head into the weekend, increasing moisture, instability, and humidity. While Christmas will be on the warm side, it will also be wet. Thanks to the cold front, showers and thunderstorms are very likely as we head into the afternoon and evening hours. If you are a fan of the cold, below normal temperatures look to return as the final week of 2016 commences.

Here’s some stats on Christmas, provided by the National Weather Servies.

– The last white Christmas was in 2010, when there was 6 feet of snow on the ground. To be considered a white Christmas, by 6 AM on Christmas there must be at least 1 inch of snow on the ground.

– There is a 22 percent chance that Columbia will see a white Christmas.

– There have been 5 days in since 1890 with low temperatures at 0 or below.

– The chance of measurable precipitation on Christmas Day is 21 percent and the chance of measurable snow is 12 percent.