Above average temperatures | Dec. 21, 2023

Highs will approach 60 degrees Christmas Eve and stay in the 50s for Christmas despite rain becoming widespread next Monday.

INDIANAPOLIS — Thursday was another day in the 50s across central Indiana, despite filtered sunshine at times with mid to high level clouds.

Air near the surface remains relatively dry with dewpoints in the 20s. This will keep many areas mainly dry tonight and Friday, with the more likely chance of showers early in the day occurring northwest of Indy. 

Clouds will be more prevalent Friday, but there should be enough dry time combined with south-southeasterly wind to allow highs to reach the 50s for the third straight day. 

While there will be widely scattered showers in the morning to midday, coverage of rain, albeit light, ramps up locally after 4-5 p.m. Friday to make for a damp Friday evening and night.

These showers and drizzle linger into midday Saturday with plenty of clouds around this weekend. Despite the clouds, highs Saturday should still reach the lower 50s Saturday afternoon.

A stronger south-southeasterly wind emerges Sunday, Christmas Eve, and sets the stage for highs nearing 60 degrees, a good 20 degrees above average with only a slight chance of showers. Farther west will be the focal point of heavier rain along an approaching front. 

That front remains to our west on Christmas Day to keep central Indiana in the unseasonably mild air and highs well in the 50s. But we'll also be in the cross-hairs of a moisture axis lifting north around the circulation of the storm center to our west.

This puts central Indiana in a wind-whipped rain axis for Christmas Day in what could be Indy's wettest December 25th since 2014, with rain amounts between 7 a.m. Monday - 7 a.m. Tuesday possibly exceeding a half-inch. Either way, plan on a wet Christmas this year. 

But it will be an above average temperature Christmas too and quite the contrast from the chiller last year. If the forecast high of 57 degrees next Monday verifies, it would be tied for the 6th warmest Christmas high. The forecast low of 46 would be the third warmest low on Christmas in Indianapolis.

These temperatures are some 40 degrees warmer than Christmas last year that produced highs in the teens and lows in the single digits. This is part of an up and down trend the past six years on Christmas in Indy. 

Wind-whipped showers continues into Tuesday with an expectation of a colder pattern emerging later next week into New Years weekend.

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