CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Temperatures will be on the milder to warm side as we begin this Christmas Week.
The Winter Solstice officially began today at 4:02AM, which marks today as the shortest day of the year. For months, the days have grown shorter and the nights have become longer, but now that is about to reverse itself.
For today, don't let the "first day of winter" theme get to you, because we'll have mild temperatures this afternoon. For Corpus Christi, the forecast high will be 76 with light south-easterly winds around 5-10 MPH.
Tonight, more fog development will be likely as temperatures dive into the middle 50s with generally light winds.
Our pattern of above-normal temperatures is going to stick around Tuesday and Wednesday. Highs will generally reach the upper 70s to low 80s. Winds will also be increasing both days, in advance of strong cold front that will arrive Wednesday evening, just in time for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Tuesday's winds will be out of the southeast around 15-20 and then on Wednesday beginning from the southwest and then turning northerly with frontal passage around 20-30 MPH and gusting.
Christmas Eve morning temperatures come down into the mid-40s. The afternoon will be very nice with mainly sunny skies and highs in the low 60s.
Christmas morning, many locations will drop into the low 30s. Inland parts of the Coastal Bend will fall below freezing. In Corpus Christi, we are forecast to stop just shy of freezing at around 33 degrees, so it will be close, and we'll have to monitor that closely.
Christmas Day looks great though with a partly cloudy skies and highs in the middle 60s.
Into the weekend, temperatures moderate a bit and we warm back up into the 70s as southeasterly winds take back over. We could see a few showers on Saturday, though the chance remains low.
Have a great day!