By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

FORECASTERS at the Department of Meterology have dashed any hope of a cool Bahamian Christmas, with the holiday weekend shaping up to be “an average hot day”.

Forecaster Jeffery Greene told The Tribune that there are no cold fronts in the near future but warned that even though the weather would be perfect for the beach, Bahamians and tourists should “stay out of the water”.

“We are looking at partly to mostly sunny and breezy, with the temperature in the mid to upper 80s in the daytime and mid to lower 70s in the evening,” Mr Greene said.

“It not going to be as hot because of the breezy conditions but it wont be sweater weather. We are however advising persons in the central and south east Bahamas to stay out of the water because of rip currents. These currents will be piling waves onto the shore and cause rough seas. So what will happen is the waves will drag you out into the deep and the only way to get out of it is to swim parallel to the shore. So please stay out the water until next week.”

It seems as though The Bahamas will not be the only place experiencing a warm Christmas. According to weather.com, record-breaking warmth will continue to grip much of the central and eastern states in America on Christmas Day and into this weekend, continuing what has already been a very mild month in those regions.

Several cities in the east will likely see their warmest Christmas Eve or Christmas Day on record.

Record high temperatures have already been set in several northeastern cities on Christmas Eve morning, including New York, which hit 70 degrees by 8 am, crushing the previous December 24 record high of 63 degrees. Atlanta, Philadelphia, Providence, Rhode Island, and Burlington, Vermont, are some of the other cities that have set daily record highs early on Thursday.

This mild forecast means the prospect of a white Christmas is highly unlikely for many east of the Rockies. Also, some cities in the east may wake up to their warmest temperatures on record for Christmas morning.