Christmas week is going to get interesting, A weak storm will pass through the region Wednesday morning, bringing scattered rain and/or snow showers, but that will clear out pretty quickly leaving broken clouds and mild temperatures by Wednesday afternoon. High temperatures Wednesday afternoon will drop to the mid 40s before climbing into the upper 40s Thursday and the 50s by Friday. Thursday remains dry and mild, but a much stronger storm system will approach the region Friday. Very strong winds Friday precede a good chance of rain which will likely turn to snow by Saturday morning. The mountains will likely get heavy snow Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon, and a Winter Storm Watch has been issued for that region for that time period. This is a potentially strong enough storm to close down some of the mountain passes over the first part of the Christmas weekend, and it is wise to plan ahead for that possibility.

As for the chance for a White Christmas in the valley, we do have a nearly even shot at getting enough snow accumulating Saturday morning to still be around by Christmas Sunday.