For the third straight year, Knox County is expected to have warm, mild conditions on Christmas Day.
Chris Miller of the National Weather Service says there is a strong storm system moving through the upper Midwest which is moving a lot of warm air into Central and Western Illinois.
Right now, the forecast calls for a high of 53 degrees with a low of 38 on Christmas.
Miller says precipitation is looking likely as well. It’s not white, but that has it’s upside.
“We’re expecting temperatures to climb well into the 50’s for Christmas Day,” Miller says, “which doesn’t seem much like Christmas with the warm temperatures, however, the good thing is that the precipitation that comes with that is going to be in the form of rain, as opposed to any kind of a snow that could cause travel problems on Christmas Day.”
Miller expects temperatures late Monday to get into the 20’s, but precipitation should be out of the area by then making it unlikely that ice could make the trip to grandma’s house treacherous.
About three out of every 10 Christmases, Knox County sees snow falling or on the ground.
There was a high of 39 degrees in 2015, a high of 46 in 2014 with a historical average high of 29 degrees.
