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Weather|Where to Expect Snow and Rain on Christmas Week
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/weather/holiday-christmas-weather-forecast.html
Also, where you’ll find warmer temperatures. Here’s a day-by-day forecast.
By Judson Jones
Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times.
Published Dec. 23, 2024Updated Dec. 24, 2024, 9:51 a.m. ET
Fair weather should greet most holiday travelers across the United States, and Christmas is likely to be a transition to unseasonably mild temperatures nationwide.
Here is a day-by-day look at what to expect.
Christmas Eve
A dusting of snow early Tuesday morning across the Northeast should give a seasonal feel to the holiday, including in New York City and Boston. Eastern Maine could get three to six inches of snow. Farther south into the Mid-Atlantic, in cities such as Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the winter weather is more likely to fall as freezing rain, leaving a light glaze of ice across the region.
Temperatures in the Northeast should moderate, returning closer to normal. The rest of the country is expected to remain unseasonably warm. Daytime high temperatures across the Southern Plains could be 15 to 20 degrees above average, resulting in highs well into the 60s and 70s for much of Texas.
With the springlike weather, the potential for showers and thunderstorms will be present across Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri. At least some risk of hail is possible across portions of Texas, including in Austin.
Five-day precipitation forecast
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Notes: Values are shown only for the contiguous United States and are in inches of water or the equivalent amount of melted snow and ice. By Zach Levitt, Bea Malsky, Martín González Gómez and Madison Dong
Out West, another atmospheric river is expected to bring widespread rain of one to two inches, with more in some areas, from Northern California to Washington State through Tuesday evening. Up to a foot of snow is possible in the central and northern Sierra Nevada.
Some precipitation may even make it into Southern California, which has had a very dry start to the wet season. Just over a tenth of an inch of rain has fallen in Los Angeles since Oct. 1.
Christmas Day
Mild weather on Christmas Day will bring very few chances of snow across the country. The best spots for a white Christmas with fresh snow will be across the Rocky Mountains.
Rain is expected to continue in portions of the South, while the West will get a brief reprieve during the day before another atmospheric river streams inland.
Thursday
The atmospheric river is forecast to deliver more rain and mountain snow to Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. In the meantime, another storm system should build across Texas, bringing showers and possible thunderstorms there and into Western Louisiana and Arkansas.
Friday
A sweeping storm system across the Central United States should bring rainfall from Texas into the Midwest. Snow is expected in the Mountain States, and rain should hit the Northwest coast.
This weekend
Forecasters expect that well-above-average temperatures will cover most of the country.
Rainfall is likely to move into the Northeast, but whether it will arrive on Sunday or Monday is unclear.
Nazaneen Ghaffar contributed reporting.
Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times who forecasts and covers extreme weather. More about Judson Jones
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