It was a Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for the record books.

The mercury reached 54 degrees on Monday, breaking the previous record of 51 set in 1922, according to Eric Ahasic, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Twin Cities office in Chanhassen.

Christmas Eve day saw a high of 55 degrees, breaking the previous record of 46 degrees set in 1957, Ahasic said.

A cooling trend is in the forecast. Tonight’s low will be 41, and temperatures will dip to 36 by 4 p.m. the following day. Tuesday night’s low will be around 29, with a high near 37 on Wednesday.

Monday’s rains will continue Tuesday, and the metro might see some of it turn into light snow or slush Tuesday night and into Wednesday night.

After that, the forecast calls for dry weather into early January, Ahasic said.

Highs in the 30s are expected for New Year’s weekend. That’s still above average, which is about 25 degrees, he said.

Cross-country skiers hoping for a good blizzard may have to wait until mid-January if not later — but the snow will come, Ahasic stressed.

The Twin Cities joined much of the country that missed out on a white Christmas. Meteorologists attribute the lack of snow and the warmer temperatures to El Niño.

But road conditions were dangerous in some parts of the country on Christmas Day, thanks to accumulating snow and ice in the Midwest and Great Plains. Most of Nebraska and South Dakota were facing blizzard conditions, and parts of eastern North and South Dakota were facing ice storms, according to the National Weather Service.

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