Christmas roast: temperatures soar in Texas and US south-east

About 200 temperature records in the US may be broken over the next several days as warm air across Texas and the south-east is predicted to bring spring or even summer-like conditions, making Christmas Day likely to be the warmest in 50 to 100 years in some areas.

The temperatures could make this the warmest December on record for many cities in the region including Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, St Louis, Kansas City and Chicago.

The unseasonal heat will bring a forecast high to Dallas on Christmas day of 83F, six degrees under its Fourth of July high. Houston has a forecast high of 81F, which is nine degrees below its Independence Day reading.

The high temperatures, coupled with low humidity, 25mph winds and minimal predictions for rainfall, have triggered winter wildfire warnings. The Storm Prediction Center issued an advisory for parts of west Texas and Oklahoma and east Colorado on Sunday.

The warm trend is anticipated to continue through midweek before temperatures come down, but only slightly.

In contrast, western states in the US are experiencing coastal rain and heavy high elevation snowfall and more than 6m people along the California coast under storm warnings that could bring 4in of rainfall throughout the next five days.

Meteorologists say the conditions are caused by Arctic air pushing into the Pacific north-west that have produced a White Christmas for Seattle and Portland, which could see 4 inches of snow on Christmas Day.