Above-average temperatures will bring warm weather to every state in the contiguous U.S. this weekend, with some parts of the nation expecting temperatures as much as 20 degrees above average for the last weekend of the year.
Why It Matters
This weekend will be the last big travel push for the record-breaking holiday travel season, with weather having the ability to disrupt traffic as people journey home after the winter holidays.
Although winter storms were impacting as many as 16 states on Friday, temperatures were expected to continue rising over the weekend, leaving the United States free of Arctic air. The warm temperatures could break daily records in some parts of the nation.
What to Know
A timelapse video from the NWS Weather Prediction Center shows that above-average temperatures will spread across the U.S. this weekend, with every state in the Lower 48 seeing high temperatures above freezing, even in northern regions. Meanwhile, temperatures will surge past 80 degrees in Texas.
Despite the warmer-than-average weather, meteorologists warned that storms will still be present across much of the U.S.
As of late Friday morning, dense fog was posing potential travel issues across the central U.S., with winter-storm-related alerts focused primarily in high-elevation areas in the west and parts of the East Coast.
What People Are Saying
NWS Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Tony Fracasso told Newsweek: "We've got a few days of well above-normal temperatures basically across the whole country before things start to change a little bit right around New Year's Day, where we have cooler air moving into most of the country."
NWS Weather Prediction Center in a forecast: "Much of the Lower 48 will see much above average temperatures over the next few days. This will be a continuation to the above average pattern for areas to the west of the Mississippi River, but a reversal of the overall below average pattern that has dominated areas east of the Mississippi during December.
This much above average pattern will support the potential for record high morning low temperatures across the Central Plains into the Mid to Upper Mississippi Valley on today, across the Upper Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes region on Saturday, and the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Sunday."
NWS Weather Prediction Center in a post on X: "Nearly all of the country will see above average, relatively mild conditions heading into the last weekend of the year. Forecast highs into the 50s and 60s will be common, as much as 10-20 degrees above average for some regions."
What Happens Next
Though the weekend temperatures might be a welcome reprieve from typical winter weather, the NWS Climate Prediction Center anticipates that temperatures will start to dip below average for part of the nation by early January.
The center's eight- to 14-day temperature outlook shows below-average temperatures for the eastern half of the nation, with above-average temperatures expected over part of the western U.S.
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