How Warm Could This Ames Winter Be?

Monday brought record setting temperatures to Des Moines and Ames.

Highs in the 60s is hardly what one would expect in Iowa in December, but here it Ames December days have been as warm as 68 degrees in the first two weeks of the month, according to climate data kept by Iowa State University.

Monday also reached 68 degrees a new record. Past Dec. 3 have seen temperatures as high as 63 degrees. But that's not the warmest December day in Ames history.

A Dec. 17 in Ames' past has seen temperatures as high as 73 degrees. The coldest it's ever been in December is -24 on both Dec. 23 and Dec. 29, according to weather forecasting data kept by Iowa State University.

But it doesn't look like anyone will need to wear a scarf this week.

According to the National Weather Service, Ames will see a highs in the upper 50s and 40s until the weekend when temperatures could drop to a cool 39.

This balmy weather is caused by a stationary Pacific storm that's drenching California with record rainfall, while we're getting unseasonably warm weather.

Since 2000, only three times have we been this warm this late in the year—2011, 2006 and 2004, the NWS says.