This year's mild Christmas is welcome after checking recent history for this date

Warm and wet is on your Christmas list from the National Weather Service. 

A warming trend will continue this week, with well above normal temperatures by Christmas Day on into next weekend. Cloudy skies along with on and off rain and drizzle can be expected tonight through Christmas evening. 

Good chances of rain and possibly a few thunderstorms return Thursday night through Saturday night, with rain tapering off on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Paducah meteorologists looked back on recent data for this date and found dramatic examples of what a wide variety of weather we can get in December:

Two years ago, a brutal blast of arctic air poured into the region with daytime highs of 7 degrees. Two to three inches of snow were blown around by 40 to 50-mph wind gusts for wind chills of -20 to -30.

Nine years ago, a swarm of 8 tornadoes touched down in southeast Missouri, southern Illinois and southwest Indiana.

And twenty years ago today, a historic two-day snowfall moved through the region with one to two feet of accumulation. Paducah ended up with an all-time record of 14 inches in a 24-hour period, and Evansville was buried under 22 inches of snow.