Dec. 16--Prospects for a white Christmas are low to nonexistent, even though a punch of cold air is predicted to sweep through Chicago around then.
The latest model projections show significantly higher than normal temperatures will continue across the Midwest through year's end, extending a pattern that has dominated the region's weather since Sept. 1.
This December is Chicago's second-warmest on record, running an eye-catching 12.5 degrees above normal. Every day this month, and 75 percent of the days since Sept. 1, have been at or above normal. There's no ice on the Great Lakes -- ice at this time was already observed a year ago -- and the temperature of Lake Michigan is running 5 degrees higher than a year ago.
And we're not alone.
NASA reports November saw temperatures in the Arctic tundra regions of the Northern Hemisphere, such as areas of Siberia, as much as 18 degrees above normal, with the planet on track to record its warmest year since the late 1800s.
