Here's who could see a white Christmas this year

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Lead Long-Range Expert Paul Pastelok was live on the AccuWeather Network on Dec. 16 to discuss who could see a white Christmas in the United States this year.

Transcript

00:00Well of course we want to think snow for this next segment because joining me right now is

00:04AccuWeather lead long-range expert Paul Pastelok. He is joining us for a look at that white Christmas

00:11forecast. Of course Hanukkah starts the same evening but Hanukkah shifts by the lunar cycle

00:15so we're going to focus on Christmas because it's the same day every year Paul. It is it is and

00:21and it's and it's one day and it's like the most popular day when it comes to having snow on the

00:26ground. Everybody wants to know is there going to be snow on the ground at my house on Christmas

00:32day and it's very very difficult in some places but it's automatic if you live in the higher

00:37elevations. Now the countdown is on nine days left some of the pattern to get snow into next

00:42week will be what happens this week so talk a little bit about what's coming up. Yeah Bernie

00:47and I talked about this on Friday uh the one thing that has changed from our thinking is that the

00:53the system that was supposed to come on the weekend is not getting its act together completely

00:58but we still have a big upper level high in western Canada and the northwest and it's going to

01:03push down some cold air so we will get some systems that can produce some snow especially

01:08the northern tier Great Lakes and interior northeast but may stick around for a little

01:13while but the thing is is that cold will be prevalent probably into the weekend with that

01:18jet stream diving all the way down to the south and hopefully it keeps some of the snow on the

01:22ground that we see on this map right now snow cover currently in the northeast but unfortunately

01:28in parts of Pennsylvania and also in West Virginia except the higher elevations you're going to lose

01:33some of that snow or the warm-up coming uh as we go into this week and a little bit next week as

01:37well the the upper plains and the uh midwest that's that's interesting there there's some

01:43snow on the ground Melissa right now and I'm wondering if that's going to stick around or if

01:48that's going to get a race again this milder pattern that's coming up this week it's going

01:51to be such a close call now we talk about where we would commonly see white Christmases and

01:58obviously you have to head north the farther north you are the more likely you will find it

02:02also it has to do with where the moisture is yeah it is and you need all you need both you need the

02:06cold and you need the moisture and it's a very difficult uh time to get snow at this time of the

02:13year in parts of the Tennessee valley in the southern plain states it almost has to be perfect

02:18for them to have snow on the ground for Christmas day and you can see the percentages lower

02:22dramatically as you go farther south but in the higher elevations it's almost automatic the

02:27Adirondacks you're talking about the central Rockies the Cascades the Sierras and they've

02:32had fresh snow we got lots of systems coming into the west coast and so they'll continue to get

02:37pounded over the next two weeks a lot of spots here still questioning what's going to happen

02:42into next week so this is a look what you've got laid out for us well i'll just say overall

02:48the pattern we got a couple systems this week mostly northern tier of the nation far northern

02:53you'll get a little bit snow elsewhere it's going to be rain unfortunately and then next week there's

02:58a system close by on Christmas eve Christmas day we'll get to that in just a second but again you

03:02look at the uh forecast that just came out hot off the presses right here in the plain states that

03:08area there may be missing out on precipitation that's the reason why we have a low probability

03:14of a white Christmas in parts of western Nebraska in the western Dakotas and unfortunately the 95

03:19corridor we're kind of missing out here up until maybe just before Christmas I think we just don't

03:24have any snow on the ground it's going to melt away if anything is in the area from the last

03:28system that just came through but again the percentages look typical what you would typically

03:33see from the historical probabilities yeah I think there's going to be some happy folks too

03:38because I have a lot of family in the Minneapolis area they are standardly when you're talking about

03:44cities above a million people one of those spots that's most likely to see a white Christmas last

03:48year they had nothing on the ground now they have a trace this morning so we'll see how things shape

03:54out for them but it does look a little more favorable so I think I'm with you Melissa I

03:58think the upper midwest great lakes interior northeast have the better chance here outside of

04:03higher elevations to have snow on the ground and again we're watching that system around Christmas

04:07Eve Christmas Day to see if it can produce a little bit of snow maybe in parts of the northern

04:12mid-Atlantic and southern New England area all right we'll all be dreaming of it at least many

04:17of us especially the young ones too AccuWeather lead long range expert Paul Pastelak thank you

04:22so much for joining us

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