BLOG: 12/23/2008 "It's beginning to NOT look a lot like Christmas..."

Written by: Bob Metcalfe

We all know how the old Christmas carol is SUPPOSED to go, and with the plethora of wintry weather and abundances of snow as of late, all signs were pointing to a truly White Christmas. We may just see otherwise.

Starting Tuesday night light snow will fall for a few hours. But with a high pressure anchored in the western Atlantic and combined with a low pressure racing through the Great Lakes, southerly winds will crank temperatures UPWARDS overnight, causing a few areas to see icy precipitation in the form of sleet or even freezing rain. When the upper levels warm faster than the sub-freezing surface, the usual result is freezing rain. Although we don't expect a major event into the early hours of Christmas Eve, some of the valleys in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes could see some small ice accumulation. For those closer to the lake, there will probably be a quick transition from all snow to all rain by Wednesday morning. High temps on Wednesday are expected to easily reach into the mid 40s.

Winds are of concern Wednesday night late through the early hours (pre-dawn) on Christmas day. Surface winds sustained of 30-40mph are expected with gusts possibly reaching above 50mph at times. This will bear watching. Word to the wise: If you have Christmas decoration that aren't that well anchored, we would suggest taking the precautions necessary to guarantee that you will have them in YOUR yard Christmas morning.