Temperatures remain more than 20° above average, but rain is on the way for Christmas
Chicago’s stretch of mild weather will continue through Christmas Day.
Temperatures are running more than 20 degrees above average. While it doesn’t look like a record-breaker, this Christmas could be among the 10 warmest in Chicago, according to NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Kevin Jeanes.
Here are the records for the 10 warmest Christmas Days in Chicago since records began in 1872:
If we reach 54 degrees it will be the seventh-warmest Dec. 25. Interestingly enough, two of the last four years in Chicago are in the top-five warmest Christmases: 2021 and 2019.
Conversely, the two other years have been bitter cold in Chicago.
Weather
Dec. 25, 2022 was actually the seventh coldest with a high of only 14 degrees. The coldest Christmas on record? Negative 5 degrees in 1983. The low that day was -17 degrees.
Below are some other records of note, including the snowiest Christmas Day in 1950.
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So, this year we are capping off an unusually warm year with an unusually warm December and Christmas. Every month this year has had an above-average mean temperature. We still have a week to lower our December average as it gets colder to end the month, but 2023 currently ranks as the third-warmest year on record for Chicago (through Dec. 22). The warmest year belongs to 2012.
The highest temperature of 64 degrees on Christmas Day was recorded in 1982, and the lowest temperature of -17° was recorded in 1983, so we’ll wait and see what next year has in store for Chicago.
