‘Twas a gloomy and cold Christmas
By Payton Counts News-Press NOW meteorologist
The holiday season is behind us. However, many people are busy and often on the roads.
This makes weather a crucial factor when planning ahead for long car trips to see family or friends.
Luckily, this Christmas was a pretty uneventful one in terms of the weather. The forecast called for gloomy skies and drizzle.
Looking at past Christmases, the warmest one recorded here in St. Joseph, according to data from Rosecrans Memorial Airport, was 65 degrees in 2019.
The Christmas of 1983 marked the record for the coldest high temperature at seven degrees and the coldest low at -15 degrees.
Compared to this year, Christmas was not one for the record books when it came to temperatures. With an average high of 39 degrees and low of 19 degrees, the observed temperatures were above average.
The high on Christmas day was 42 degrees, and the low was 35 degrees.
As 2024 comes to a close and we move into 2025, an upper-level pattern is expected to favor near-to above-normal temperatures.
However, as we head into the second week of January, there are better chances for Arctic air to push further south, which could impact the lower 48 states with below-average temperatures.
