A chance of heavy rain may cause headaches for travelers and shoppers across New Jersey, while temperatures in the 70s will smash records on Christmas Eve.

Here are your weather headlines for Tuesday, December 22, 2015...

Rain Round 1

The next several days leading into Christmas are looking incredibly warm and somewhat wet for New Jersey.

So far this morning, we have seen a few bands of rain traversing the Garden State, while heavier rain has been holding off to the west in Pennsylvania. We'll watch some light to possibly moderate rain push through the state for most of today. Again, nothing heavy and nothing severe today. Winds may gust above 20 mph at times today, under mostly cloudy skies.

By late this afternoon through early evening, the rain will taper off and we should enjoy a rain-free period through the overnight.

Rain Round 2

Another storm system will roll into New Jersey around mid-morning Wednesday. This one could have a bit more "oomph" behind it, so periods of heavy rain and rumbles of thunder are possible. The timing of the heaviest rain is unfortunate, as Wednesday's evening rush hour will likely be very heavy due to pre-Christmas Eve travelers and last-minute shoppers.

Tuesday-to-Wednesday modeled rainfall totals have come down a bit since yesterday. Statewide estimates now range between 0.3" and 1.3". So it won't be a hugely significant rain event, by any means. It's the pre-holiday timing that will make this wet weather somewhat challenging.

A few showers will be possible on Thursday and Friday (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) too... But the holiday days look to be the driest days of the week.

Record Warm Christmas

We have been talking about it since last week, and the forecast is holding steady... Christmas Eve 2015 will be one of the warmest December days on record for New Jersey. High temperatures are expected to range between 68 and 76 degrees. Not only will temperatures reach 30+ degrees above late December normals, but we may break the daily record high temperatures by 10 degrees or more! That's just incredible.

Christmas Day will start warm too, with 60s persisting through the morning hours. By the afternoon, a cold front will cause temperatures to fall.

By Saturday, temperatures will end up cooler, but we'll remain well above normal through early next week.

Dan Zarrow is the Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter for the latest forecast and realtime weather updates.

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