Could This Be The Warmest Christmas On Record In The Quad Cities?

Christmas Day is this Monday, December 25, 2023. Could we see the warmest Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on record in Iowa, Illinois, and the Quad Cities?

It's definitely not going to be a cold Christmas weekend and the warmest Christmas Day on record happened less than 5 years ago. The chance that we get that warm is really small.

We'll see highs in the mid to upper 50s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That won't break any records but it will be well warmer than normal.

Hottest & Coldest Christmas On Record In The Quad Cities

To find the hottest Christmas on record we don't have to go to far. Our friends at the National Weather Service of the Quad Cities have all of that data compiled.

The hottest Christmas Day in the Quad Cities was back in 2019 when we saw a high of 62°. We need to go back to the 19th century to find the hottest Christmas Eve. We reached 65° back in 1889.

The coldest Christmas Day was in 1983  when we saw a high of only -2°. The coldest Christmas Eve was the day before when we saw a high of -10°.

The Most Snow On Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

While we're looking at numbers, how about the 'whitest' Christmas Eves and Days on record. We'll have a wet Christmas this year but no snow.

The whitest Christmas Eve we've seen was in 2010. That day, we saw 6.9 inches of snow according the the NWS of the Quad Cities. That was plenty to set us up for a nice white Christmas in 2010.

The snowiest Christmas Day is a lot less than that, surprisingly. The NWS says the most snow the Quad Cities has seen fall on Christmas Day was 4.1 inches back in 1920.

Expect A Mild Christmas Weekend

Things will be warmer than usual with the precipitation you don't want but we definitely need.

The forecast for Christmas Eve day is rain with a high 57°, according to KWQC. When it's not raining, we'll see cloudy skies. There's a 70% chance of precipitation. If we hit a high of 57°, it will tie for the 6th-warmest Christmas Eve on record (1982).

For Christmas Day, expect to see more rain with a high of 53°. Cloudy skies when it's not raining and an 80% chance of precipitation on Monday. Similar to Christmas Eve, if we hit a high of 53° like our friends at TV6 are predicting, it will tie for the 6th-warmest Christmas on record (2021).