A heavy downpour in
Los Angeles on Tuesday could be a harbinger of a white
Christmas in
North Carolina.
It's possible, but too early to tell, Barrett Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh, said Tuesday.
The California storm is expected to follow a path across the southern United States this week, arriving here just in time for Christmas.
At the same time, cold air will be moving into the area from Canada, bringing temperatures near the freezing mark and below, Smith said.
"It looks like there is a good chance we'll see snowfall on Christmas," Smith said.
The storm system is too far out to say for sure what will happen, Smith said. It's possible that some parts of the state will get snow and other parts will not see any. And where the line will fall is impossible to say with certainty, he said.
As of Tuesday, the Winston-Salem forecast from Fox8 is for a mostly sunny day but turning cloudy on Christmas Eve, with a low of 24 degrees and a high of 45 degrees. On Christmas Day, there is a 60 percent chance of precipitation, with a predicted low of 31 degrees and a high of 37.
A white Christmas would be unusual here. The area has a less than 5 percent chance of at least 1 inch of snowfall on any given Christmas Day, according to Weather Service statistics. The last significant Christmas Day snowfall was 1947, when nearly 3 inches of snow fell.
Robby Stone is among those not dreaming of a white Christmas. He's the director of Winston-Salem's streets division.
"We're praying it won't happen," said Stone, who doesn't want the city crews to have to leave their families Christmas Day to take care of the roads.
Stone said he'll be monitoring the forecast this week. On Tuesday, he put the white Christmas odds at 50-50.
He said the salt trucks would be ready to go Thursday so they don't have to be loaded Friday, which is a city holiday.
pgarber@wsjournal.com
LET IT SNOW ON CHRISTMAS DAY ALL OVER THE SOUTH!!!!!!
