Storms expected to bring sleek weather to California on Christmas Day may have detrimental effects in flood-ravaged Midwestern states throughout the weekend.
"The combination of heavy snow and strong winds will create blizzard conditions from eastern New Mexico to the Texas Panhandle and southwestern Kansas," said AccuWeather Assistant Director of Storm Warnings Andrew Gagnon. Travelers along I-25 and I-40 should prepare for road closures caused by whiteout conditions.
Southern Plain states were ravaged by heavy rain throughout the summer. States like Colorado and Missouri saw near-record flooding, and, last August, Texas endured unprecedented storms that left the town of Brownsville under more than six inches of water.
Post-Christmas rainfall is predicted to bring between three-to-six inches of rain from north-central Texas to west-central Illinois, beginning as early as Saturday night. "Portions of eastern Texas will be at risk on Sunday, followed by the lower Mississippi Valley on Monday," Gagnon said.
In an unprecedented change in winter weather patterns, California will experience cold temperatures and light right on Christmas Eve while some northeastern states will see temperatures push past 80 degrees. Rising temperatures won't just top monthly averages by one or two degrees; forecasters expect a full 10-degree increase in some cities.
"A lot of these records that are being broken are being broken by several degrees, by 5 or in some cases 10 degrees," said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. "It speaks to how anomalous this is, that the records are being shattered by numerous degrees, not just 1 or 2 degrees."
States from Florida all the way up to New England can expect temperatures around 70 degrees, at minimum. The projection for New York City on Christmas Day is 65 degrees, but can break a 19-year-old record of 63 degrees by Sunday.
Boston and Washington D.C. may also break record highs.