Warm weather expected Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, temperatures are expected to climb to nearly 70 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

“We will be close to surpassing a record on Christmas Eve,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Carl Erickson.

Temperatures on Wednesday are anticipated to climb to 59 — 23 degrees above the normal 36-degree high. During the night, temperatures will remain well above the average normal lows, with a low of 56, according to AccuWeather.com.

Temperatures on Thursday will be even higher. Daytime temperatures are expected to reach 67 — smashing the record of 65 set in 1933 — according to AccuWeather.com.

According to the National Weather Service, there may be a chance of showers throughout Thursday evening, but those showers will taper off.

While showers are likely Thursday, snow is not.

“The latest snowfall ever reported in Centre County was on Dec. 20, 1982, when the area received 1.82 inches of snow,” Erickson said.

Almanac records indicate that so far this year, Centre County only recorded a trace of snow.

There is a slight chance of showers on Christmas Day. Temperatures on Christmas Day will climb to a high of 55 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. By the afternoon, there will be partly sunny skies.

“It’s not too common to have temperatures this mild, this late into the year,” Erickson said. “There’s been a large area of high pressure anchored just off the East Coast. With us being on the western periphery of that, the warm air has been able to surge northward.”

Erickson also said that the “effects of the El Nino have also affected us, creating a faster west-to-east flow, which keeps the cold air bottled up across the north, making it more difficult to have prolonged cold air across the lower 48.”

As for when the snow will arrive, Erickson said “the next chance to see some snow flakes may be toward the end of next week, but it will be too warm for it to stick around. The chances to have snow on the ground will increase as we move into January and February.”

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 8:32 PM with the headline "Warm weather expected Christmas Eve."