Why It's So Warm This Christmas: Perfect Storm of Weather Events

It's definitely not a white Christmas this year. You may have noticed that it's positively warm this holiday season, even in places like the east coast of the United States. Now, we're telling you exactly why that is.

All along the east coast on Christmas Eve, temperatures stayed in the balmy 50s and 60s through the day. In fact, it's expected that hundreds of record highs will fall on Christmas Day across the eastern parts of the U.S. and Canada. In fact, temperatures are forecast as high as 59 degrees Fahrenheit in Toronto and 75 degrees in Washington.

Christmas may be warm, but December itself has also been steamy this winter. According to preliminary data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, at least 2,693 record daily highs were either tied or broken across the U.S. for the first 23 days of December. An additional 3,912 record warm daily low temperatures were also set during this time.

But why is it so warm in the first place? Meteorologists attribute to the weirdly warm weather to two climate phenomena. First, there's a strong Arctic Oscillation that's trapping cold air in the Arctic region. Then, there's an exceptionally strong El Niño that's also causing temperatures to rise. El Niño is particularly strong in the Northern part of the United States, since the phenomenon pushes warm air in from the Pacific.

This Christmas, there's no need to bundle up. Instead, enjoy the warm temperatures while they last this particular winter holiday season.

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