Let me start out by making one thing very clear: I'm not getting preachy with the headline at the top of this page. If you're one of the millions of holiday shopping procrastinators out there, just know that I am, too. And I need that headline as a personal reminder.

For so many reasons, 2025 is not the year to get behind schedule on your holiday shopping. But since this is weather.com and The Weather Channel app, let's focus on just one — the weather.

(MORE: How To Keep Your Pets Safe Outside This Winter)

Weather in your inbox

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.

You've surely heard plenty about how the polar vortex refuses to let go of a large chunk of the United States this month, and that's expected to impact all those package delivery services that are trying to send your goodies all over the country in time for whatever big holiday you've set as your deadline.

But in reality, it's even more important this year to know those shipping deadlines and make sure your packages are on the move days before that.

Take the U.S. Postal Service, for example. In order to ensure on-time ground delivery, Dec. 17 is the deadline. But that assumes great weather — and who has seen that this month?

"The December forecast leading up to Christmas, unfortunately for holiday shoppers in the eastern half of the country, comes with multiple waves of winter weather that could make errand-ing treacherous, especially this weekend, the last full weekend before the nitty-gritty lead-up to Christmas that comes with the weekend of Dec. 20," said weather.com digital meteorologist Sara Tonks.

(MORE: Your Christmas Tree Is Bringing Bugs Into Your House)

That Dec. 17 USPS deadline doesn't account for a massive regional backlog that could be caused by a potential storm in early or mid-December, and there have been a few of those. So your packages might be joining a traffic jam already in progress.

And if that isn't enough, here's one more reminder: Temperatures usually get colder as the month progresses and we march toward the start of astronomical winter, so every day you wait means the temperatures could get colder and colder... and blasts of cold air just keep on marching into the United States.

"I don't care how much you like the cold. A potential wind chill up to 30 degrees below zero is not conducive to getting errands done, which is what the upper Midwest and Northern Plains are facing this weekend," said Tonks.

You heard her — don't wait any longer! Getting started can be the hardest part of holiday shopping, so if you need a boost, head on over to Atmosphere for some of our shopping ideas:

- Gifts For The Person Who Is Always Cold

- 25 Gift Ideas For People Who Love To Travel

- 35 Stocking Stuffer And White Elephant Gift Ideas Under $50