It certainly won't be a white Christmas, at least in most of Illinois, and the days following are going to feel more like late-April than late-December.

The National Weather Service in Lincoln has been telling us for a few months the start of this winter is going to be mild but expect it to get cold and wet fast come January and beyond. When asked if we're seeing a shift in the seasons, Meteorologist Chris Miller says this is simply a cyclical pattern we can see. But.....

According to Miller, data is showing a shift in the cold and snow to later in the winter and also the activity in regards to severe weather. He says these changes are pretty consistent in the last ten to twenty years.

Miller believes this is just something that comes and goes and believes we need to adjust our patterns as we go through the seasons.

Temperatures in central Illinois for Christmas Day are anticipated to be in the mid-50s and the 1982 record of 62-degrees could be approached in some places in central Illinois. Last year on Christmas Day, temperatures were 50 degrees and it was 58 degrees on Christmas Day in 2016. 2014 and 2015 in Springfield, temperatures were close to 50 degrees.

2017s 22-degree Christmas Day in Springfield was the coldest Christmas since it was 15-degrees in 2000.