SHAMOKIN - The second day of winter smashed a longtime record with a high temperature of 65 degrees in the area while wiping out most of the snow remaining from last weekend's storm.
The high temperature in Shamokin was 65 degrees Sunday, continuing a warm spell that began Wednesday.
Kevin Fitzgerald, forecaster for the National Weather Service in State College, said temperatures reached record highs of 64 and 70 Sunday in the Williamsport and Harrisburg areas, respectively. He said the previous record for Dec. 22 in Williamsport was 60 degrees in 1949.
He said the Selinsgrove area, which is the closest to Shamokin that the weather station had records for, also had a high of 65.
Fitzgerald said the average high temperature for Dec. 22 in Williamsport and Harrisburg is 36 and 39, respectively.
He said the Selinsgrove area had about a quarter inch of rain Saturday and Sunday.
The forecaster said approximately another quarter inch of rain was expected overnight into this morning before a cold front moves in that will cause temperatures to drop from a high of 50 to the low to upper 20s tonight.
There is a slim possibility for a light coating of snow on Christmas Eve, but no snow is predicted for Christmas Day, which should be cold (high of upper 20s), but mostly sunny, Fitzgerald reported.