Hot Christmas Week In Much Of U.S. Already Breaking Records: Santa Will Need Shorts, Sunscreen

One of the most scant expected Christmas snow covers
in years. All areas that are just white, with no other
colors, won't have snow on the ground Christmas. 

 It's been a hot December in much of the United States, with the exception of the Northeast. 

Scores of record high temperatures have been broken almost daily this month. In the seven days ending on December 20, weather stations in the U.S. had a total of 1,564 record highs and just 74 record lows. That's as lopsided as it can get. 

In the past two weeks, most of the record highs have been in the western U.S. That is about to change. 

A summer-like "heat dome" is about to set up across the middle of the U.S. An enormous zone from the Rockies to the Appalachians can expect record high temperatures. 

Most will occur on Christmas Day, or the days immediately leading up to and after the big day. 

Fox Weather has a map that shows more than 100 expected record highs this week stretching from Nevada to Indiana. Most of the record highs would be in the Plains from South Dakota to Texas.  At least 40 cities are expecting record highs on Christmas Day. The final number will probably be well over that.  

,Some examples of toasty Christmas forecasts include 76 in Oklahoma City which would exceed the previous record high by three degrees. Wichita Falls, Texas is expected a record Christmas high of 81 degrees. Wichita, Kansas is expecting highs in the mid-70s. 

Apparently, Santa will need to bring a change of clothes, so he can go down to a t-shirt and red shorts by the time he gets to the U.S. 

Temperatures will get into the mid-60s as far north as Rapid City, South Dakota. 

The far north will escape the Christmas heat wave. The extreme northern Great Plains, most of the area around the Great Lakes and New England will stay seasonably chilly.   

The only places in the nation that expect a white Christmas are highest elevations in the western United States; much of North Dakota, Minnesota roughly north of Minneapolis; Wisconsin roughly north of Madison, northern Michigan, northern New York and most of central and northern New England.