Looks like a partly cloudy day with a projected temperature high of 40 for this Christmas Eve and a cloudy Christmas morning with a sunny afternoon and a high a bit warmer at 44.

Then mostly sunny for Wednesday, the day after, when many head for after Christmas sales and return things they don’t want.  Rain follows on Thursday and Friday as the daily high temperatures climb into the fifties for a cloudy last weekend of 2018.

News Years Eve and the first day of 2019 forecasts show wet and cooler with overnight lows close to freezing.

If the forecasts are correct, we may see some snow along with rain on Jan. 2 and snow showers on the first weekend of 2019.

Have a Merry Christmas.  Looks like it might be the best weather between now and the rest of 2018.

Reports The Weather Channel:

• The eastern and southern U.S. will likely experience below-average temperatures overall from January through March.
• February is expected to be the most unusually cold month for those regions.
• Mild conditions are forecast to be dominant in the Northwest.

After a late-December respite from the bitter chill in the central and eastern United States, colder temperatures are likely to return for the beginning of the new year and intensify by February, according to the latest outlook from The Weather Company.

Temperatures are expected to be below average overall from the South to the mid-Atlantic from January through March 2019. Temperatures are forecast to be near-average or slightly colder from the Southwest to the central Plains, Midwest and Northeast.

Any above-average temperatures will likely be confined to the West and Northwest during the first three months of the new year. Above-average warmth, by winter standards, is expected from Northern California to parts of the northern Plains, with temperatures even farther above average forecast in the Pacific Northwest.

“The current magnitude/flavor of El Niño event and expected high-latitude blocking associated with the solar minimum (and backed up by the November blocking) add up to heavily skewed odds toward a colder, stormier late-winter period,” said Dr. Todd Crawford, chief meteorologist with The Weather Company.

Monthly outlooks predict temperatures near or slightly below average for January, well below average for February.

“Everything is still on track for a notably cold, stormy late-winter period in the eastern and southern U.S., especially in February,” Crawford said.

March should return to near or slightly below average readings on thermometers.

“It currently appears as if the El Niño event will not decay significantly heading into spring, which should favor the continuation of cooler-than-normal temperatures across much of the southern and eastern U.S. into at least May,” Crawford said.