Forecast Says Missouri & Illinois in for December ‘Heat Wave’
We've already had a relatively mild late Fall as far as temps and precipitation goes. If a new forecast is correct, Missouri and Illinois are in for a relative heat wave in the middle of December.
Before you get too excited, here are a couple things to keep in mind. This prediction means temperatures are relative to what would be normal in the middle of December meaning that 50 is "warm" when it's normally 30. Second, this is a weather prediction which has a 50% chance of being wrong. That being said, this is still a very optimistic forecast for this time of year from the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.
It also looks like precipitation is supposed to be less than normal for the middle of December. I'm not complaining.
My wife is a meteorologist so I'll have to be careful how I say this, but in defense of the National Weather Service forecasters, knowing what the weather is gonna do in the future is hard.
If you're a fan of cold weather and want a white Christmas, just wait. It's the old "if you don't like the weather in Missouri or Illinois, just wait 10 minutes".