Baby, it’s warm outside

Published 3:24 pm Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Those wishing for a white Christmas will get a white hot Christmas instead.

Temperatures on Christmas Day are expected to climb to a near record high. Meteorologists are predicting Greenville will hit 80 degrees on Friday. The record high for Christmas Day in the Camellia City if 84 degrees and came in 1987.

According to Weather Underground, record-breaking warmth for late-December standards will grip much of the central and eastern states Christmas week, continuing what has already been a very mild month in those regions. Several cities in the East will likely see their warmest Christmas Eve or Christmas Day on record, adding to the more than 2,600 daily record high temperatures that have been tied or broken across the Lower 48 in the first 19 days of the month. This mild forecast means the prospect for a white Christmas is highly unlikely for many east of the Rockies.

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There’s also a threat a severe weather in the area beginning Wednesday.

“The good news is that it is going to be unusually warm for this time of year. There is no threat of any cold weather or any winter weather,” said John De Block, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “However, with that comes the possibility of some thunderstorms and some tornadoes.”

Heavy rainfall Wednesday and Wednesday night could bring flash flooding, according to the National Weather Service.

There is potential for strong storms, which according to NWS meteorologists will create favorable conditions for isolated tornadoes and straight-line winds that could bring wind gusts in excess of 60 mph.