Sandi, the world's only 35-foot-tall, 700-ton holiday sand tree is lit for 2025 Holiday in Paradise in West Palm Beach.
A pattern of warm, gooey and breezy days are expected for the week of Christmas as a stubborn area of high pressure loiters near South Florida.
While daytime high temperatures won't break any records, they are forecast to hover near 80 degrees through Christmas Day with overnight lows between the mid 60s to near 70 degrees.
Normal daytime highs in West Palm Beach for this time of year are closer to 76 degrees. The normal overnight low is 61 degrees.
Visitors may revel in the sultry December air but locals are likely eager for the next cool front. This month, every day but two through Dec. 18 have been warmer than normal by as much as 8 degrees. Only Dec. 11 and 12 had below normal average temperatures.
Will Redman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's office in Miami, said the weather pattern isn't expected to change much at least into the first few days of 2026.
"We're just looking at more humid conditions with this locked in high pressure," Redman said. "We have this all summer so we prefer a bit of a cool down
Rain chances remain low through the week with the mostly likely days for showers being Dec. 22 and Dec. 23 when chances hit 20%. Those days will also be the most blustery with sustained winds near 18 mph and gusts to 28 mph possible on Dec. 22.
The breezy conditions may also mean rough surf and higher risks of rip currents at the beaches, Redman said.
"Right now the surf looks pretty high Monday and Tuesday with a swell coming down from the north early in the week," he said. "It could be hazardous for small craft and swimmers."
Holiday travelers may experience delays in the Northwest and Northeast as the jet stream traps cold temperatures and stormy weather in the higher latitudes.
But for much of the country, Christmas is forecast to be on the warm side with record-breaking warmth for at least a dozen states in the southern Great Plains from Texas through Tennessee, according to AccuWeather.
The best chances for snow will be in the northern tier of the Midwest through the Northeast.
"The strengthening of the polar vortex is locking up the coldest air in Canada with the main track of storms near the U.S. / Canada border for the week ahead," said AccuWeather lead long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
Jeff Berardelli, chief meteorologist for WFLA-TV in Tampa, posted on social media that he calculated the chances for a white Christmas in Florida and "it's worse than expected" at -100%.
"I promise, I checked and rechecked. It's correct," he joked.
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.