Sprawling high pressure aloft over the central part of the country will keep warmer-than-normal temperatures in the forecast through Christmas and heading into the weekend. There are changes coming, though, in the form of an Arctic blast that will bring 2025 to a chilly end.

The main weather story for the week ahead — including Christmas Day — will be much warmer-than-normal temperatures as high pressure aloft will remain the dominant weather feature across a good bit of the continental US.

It’ll be a quiet and seasonable weekend of weather in the Lowcountry as we embark on the last shopping weekend before Christmas. Temperatures Saturday will start on the cool side, with calm winds and clear skies allowing temperatures to fall to the mid-30s by morning. Mostly sunny skies will help temperatures warm to the low 60s in the afternoon, about right where we should be for December 20.

The airmass moderates a bit on Sunday ahead of another front. We’ll start the day in the low 40s, warming to the mid-60s in the afternoon with mostly sunny skies once again expected. The frontal passage late Sunday will be dry, but will bring a decent shot of cool air to start the abbreviated work week on Monday. We’ll warm back up for Christmas, though, and may even crack 70° on Christmas Day, as we look to close 2025 on a warmer-than-normal note with sprawling high pressure developing aloft across much of the continental US.

A front will sweep away the dreary and damp Thursday, yielding a much nicer Friday with much more sunshine. We’ll start the day in the mid-50s with some cloud cover still hanging around, but that should depart by midday. Temperatures will warm to the mid-to-upper 60s with breezy westerly winds, which will be gusty early in the day, peaking in the 20-25 MPH range. Winds will gradually slacken some as the day goes on, though.

We’ll continue to put Monday’s cold snap in the rear view on Wednesday as temperatures continue to trend warmer with high pressure moving eastward. Temperatures will fall to the mid-30s overnight, but increasing cloud cover should keep a lid on further radiational cooling and keep us above freezing. From there, we’ll warm into the low-to-mid-60s as the cloud deck continues to thicken courtesy of a coastal trough taking shape offshore.

While it won’t be as windy as it was on Monday morning, we still have quite a frigid start queued up for Tuesday as lows drop back to the low 20s in the morning, with some upper teens possible closer to and west of I-95. However, with high pressure beginning to slip to the east, we’ll start to see temperatures begin to moderate in the afternoon as mostly sunny skies prevail. While the forecast high of 54° remains well below normal for this point in December, it will feel tropical in comparison to Monday’s high of 39° at the airport (which ties the record cold high temperature first set in 1942).

The well-advertised cold snap is underway as Arctic air pushes into the area, with air temperatures expected to fall to around 20° in the morning. While the most gusty winds should subside overnight, a 10-15 MPH breeze out of the north will continue to drive wind chills down well into the teens, with the potential for some brief sub-10° readings as well. A Cold Weather Advisory will run until 10am Monday to cover the most bitter cold, but it will still be a very chilly day with highs struggling to break 40° under mostly sunny skies. Winds will be slackening a little throughout the day, but still should be elevated enough to make it feel more like the mid-30s. Layer up and ensure pets, pipes, plants, and people are protected.