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Christmas To Be Wet, Not White

BOSTON (CBS) -- Not a fan of the cold and snow? This is going to be YOUR Christmas! Santa may want to break out his short sleeve, red windbreaker this year, it is going to be an abnormally warm and wet holiday. In fact, we will challenge multiple weather records for rain and temperatures both Christmas Eve and Day.

Check: Current Conditions | Interactive Radar | WBZ Weather Blog

What is causing all of this strange weather? Clearly this has been a very active December. Rain has fallen on more than half of the days this month, totaling well over 5" in the City of Boston. Already, we are well over our normal amount of precipitation for the entire month, and there is no sign of a let up to this very busy weather pattern. A parade of storms continues to crash into the West Coast (where they truly do need the water) and for the most part, track west of Boston, drawing up warm air and leading to rain instead of snow. Same deal this week as another powerful storm tracks across the country and moves well to our west. The true center of this storm will drive up the Ohio River Valley, so far to our west that a significant amount of warm air will be drawn into New England, all the way from the Gulf of Mexico. This will make it feel almost tropical here at times Wednesday and Thursday, temperatures will soar well into the 50s and perhaps even touch 60 degrees on Christmas morning!

next three days

Clearly, there will be a lot of last minute holiday shopping going on this week along with a significant amount of travel in the air and on the roads…let's take a look at some of the weather highlights and lowlights.

Rain: Overall a very wet stretch with periods of rain this afternoon through Christmas morning. Rainfall totals between 1-3" are expected over the next 72 hours with the heaviest coming Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

eve storm

Inland Flooding: Not expecting any widespread, significant river or street flooding from this event. If the rain were all coming in a short period of time it would have been a much different story. There is a window of time Wednesday night when the rain may be heavy for a few hours and cause some minor street and poor drainage flooding. Rivers are running somewhat high due to all the rain we have had this month, so this is something that bears watching, but again, at this point we do not anticipate any large scale flooding issues.

Coastal Flooding: Astronomical tides will be at their highest point of the month over the next few days, leading to some coastal flooding concerns. High tides will occur around midday on Tuesday and Wednesday, peaking at 11.6 feet and 11.7 feet respectively in Boston. Winds will not be all that strong, only 10-20mph out of the east and southeast at these times. This may be just enough for some minor splash over, no significant flooding anticipated. A slightly bigger concern would be the high tide Wednesday evening along the south coast with much stronger, southerly winds at that time, but still it appears to be just below the threshold for any significant flooding issues.

xmas day

Winds: A brief period of gusty southerly winds is likely Wednesday night, particularly in Eastern and Southeastern Massachusetts. Wind gusts could reach 30-50mph for a few hours. The windiest time period this week will likely occur on Christmas Day (afternoon and evening) after the front passes and the rain has exited. The entire region will have westerly wind gusts between 20-40mph, with some isolated 50mph gusts.

Snow and Ice: Not in the cards this week…there is a slight concern for some light freezing rain early Tuesday morning in parts of northern Worcester County and Southern New Hampshire. Temperatures will then warm above freezing in all of Southern New England for the rest of the week, through the holiday. If you are looking for a white Christmas you are gonna need to travel north to the ski areas of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

christmas rain

Records: Here are some of the records we will be testing this week…

Wednesday (Christmas Eve):
Record High Temperature: 61 (1996)…forecast right now, mid to upper 50s
Record Rainfall: 1.33" (1994)

Thursday (Christmas Day):
Record High Temperature: 65 (1889)…forecast right now, near 60
Record Rainfall: 0.89" (1978)

nws records
(Photo credit National Weather Service)

So it may not *feel* much like Christmas out there this week, but there are signs that much colder and more wintry feeling weather is on the way to finish December and start the new year. Don't count out winter just yet…

Follow Terry on Twitter @TerryWBZ

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