If you had to work this morning, you may have noticed a blustery wind and astonishingly warm temperatures -- by December standards at least.

16C on Christmas Eve? Looks like it's happening

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Daniel Martins

Digital Reporter

Thursday, December 24, 2015, 7:59 AM - If you had to work this morning, you may have noticed a blustery wind and astonishingly warm temperatures -- by December standards at least.

That's due to a low pressure system tracking north across the province, and it's dragging temperatures upward to flirt with all-time records for Christmas Eve.

"Temperature records for today and Christmas Eve are expected to tumble by the sleighful," Environment Canada wrote in a late-night special weather statement that covers all of southern Ontario. "And not only will it be mild, but abundant sunshine should grace many areas on Thursday as well."

What that means in practice are daytime highs in the low-to-mid teens, reaching a peak of 16oC in the Ottawa area before temperatures begin to fall into Christmas morning.

That is, of course, vastly higher than the seasonal norm, which for Toronto is around -0.4oC. Though the city is "only" forecast to reach 11oC, it wouldn't take much to nudge it over the 12.2oC that has stood as the record since Christmas Eve 1964.

Compared to Thursday's forecast highs, Wednesday was actually even warmer, with St. Catharines surpassing 18oC, with most of southern Ontario not far behind.

This is all a pleasantly far cry from Christmas Eve 2013, which saw hundreds of thousands of people across Ontario and Quebec still without power after a devastating ice storm.

Not only is there no such thing on the horizon this year, Christmas Eve 2015 will be mostly sunny, with little in the way of active weather or precipitation.

Christmas Day is looking notably cooler for southern Ontario, but with temperatures still above zero and variable sun and cloud.

Winter Forecast 2015-16: Here's when the snow and cold arrive: