Warm Christmas Weather Will Last Through Pinstripe Bowl on Saturday

Some surprisingly mild temperatures are here to stay – for now, at least.

Accuweather senior meteorologist Tom Kines says a warm front is making for some non-traditional Christmas weather. The holiday got off to a rainy start on Christmas Eve, which carried over through the night.

Though Christmas day was expected to start off with strong winds and rain around midnight, the gloomy weather should blow past State College by the afternoon.

“I guess the good news about Christmas day – and keep your fingers crossed – is that we could some sunshine in the afternoon,” Kines says. “We all know that sunshine has been in short supply in State College over the past couple weeks.”

Christmas temperatures are expected to hover in the mid-to-low 40’s, which eliminates the chance of a white Christmas. However, Kines says those warm temperatures will stick around for a couple days – making for good football weather.

On Saturday – the day of Penn State’s long-awaited appearance at the Pinstripe Bowl in New York City – temperatures are expected to get all the way up into the 50’s across the East Coast.

The skies are expected to be clear and dry, making for easy travel for anyone planning to make the drive from State College to New York. Some rain may hit the area on Sunday, but Kines doubts it will be heavy enough to hinder anyone who has to make the drive home from the Big Apple.

However, Kines says there’s a small chance that anyone returning home from New York after Sunday could run into some trouble.

“There’s probably going to be a storm trying to get its act together in the eastern part of the country,” Kines says “The question is how far north the system will move.”

The storm is coming up from the Gulf Coast area, meaning it will bring lots of moisture. If the storm manages to crawl far enough north, this could translate into “pretty significant snowfall” in the State College area.

Kines is quick to point out that he’s not trying to tell people to rush off to the grocery store to stock up on bread and milk. He says the storm could just as easily stay farther south and not even hit State College. 

“My guess is that we probably won’t have more definitive answers until maybe Friday morning,” Kines says.

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