Winter is knocking on our door with freezing conditions in metro Atlanta this morning, but things should warm up a bit for Christmas.

The official start of winter isn’t until Thursday, but it feels like it’s already here with Tuesday starting off with temperatures in the 20s and 30s.

It’s breezy, too, so it feels more like the teens, Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said.

“You’ll want to dress in layers. Dress in that warm winter coat this morning,” he said. “But we’re going to have a lot of sunshine.”

The sunshine will help bring temperatures up into the mid 40s today, which is still 10 degrees below average. It’ll be very cold tomorrow morning, too, but we “really won’t have the wind we do this morning, so it might feel a little bit better for you,” Monahan said.

Still, temperatures will be in the 20s and 30s to kick off Wednesday. It’ll get a bit warmer tomorrow afternoon, though, with the expected high topping out in the low 50s.

By Thursday, high temperatures should return to more seasonable levels, and on Friday and Saturday, we’ll be slightly above average with highs nearing 60 degrees.

That means milder temperatures are in store for Christmas Eve and day. The projected highs then will be near 60 degrees, and that is also when rain returns to the forecast.

“Just rain, not snow this year. It’s gonna be rain,” Monahan said.

Christmas Eve is expected to have just a 30% chance of showers. That chance goes up to 60% on Christmas day.

Five-day forecast for Dec. 19, 2023.