A brief freeze in central Illinois is going to be followed by some unseasonably warm weather as we get ready for Christmas.

Ed Shimon at the National Weather Service in Lincoln indicates the cold weather of Monday and Tuesday followed by a warm-up is just an example of the types of ebbs-and-flows in weather we'll experience this winter of El Nino.

According to Shimon, as we get to the Christmas weekend, things are going to be well above average for temperatures and will stay that way until we get into next week. Additionally, we will see some rain at points during the weekend. 

We'll hear more from Shimon in the days ahead about the trends of December and how much the rain from this past weekend has helped ease drought conditions in Illinois.