A dramatic warm-up is on the way for the Great Lakes region. The warm-up will be gradual over the course of the next five days. There is even the possibility of temperatures near 50 degrees in Lower Michigan about seven days from now.

The maps above show the six to 10 and eight to 14 day forecasts. The warmer than normal conditions should become more dominant as we get into the last week of the year.

I have to remind you I am talking about warmer than normal weather, not warm weather. Average high temperatures are 30deg to 33deg in the southern half of Lower Michigan for Christmas.

So warmer than normal temperatures would at least be above freezing, for those of you that want to see a little melting.

I think we are looking at many days between 32deg and 35deg between Wednesday and the end of the year.

The precipitation forecast still indicates we may stay in a moisture-laden storm pattern. To me it looks like one large, powerful, moisture-laden storm coming just after Christmas. The best models we have pull that storm just west of Michigan. This would put Michigan in the warm sector of the storm, and bring us rain. It could also pull temperatures in the 40s and 50s into Lower Michigan. That would be only a day or two of extremely warm temperatures for this time of year.

The storm is still seven days away, so the track could change. If the stormtrack changed dramatically, Michigan could be faced with a snowstorm. Right now that does not look to be the case.

It's a good thing we have so much snow on the ground. Otherwise we would be risking losing our white Christmas.

If you have any weather questions, please ask below.