“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…”

These words are echoed each year in December, reinforced by various holiday films that show scenes of cities buried in snow.

This year, Maine might actually make this fantasy a reality.

On Saturday, cold air will be locked in place across Maine. Temperatures themselves will not climb much, and drop well into the 20s after sunset.

While cold air gets wedged into Maine, a storm will be traversing across the Mid-Atlantic.

Again, this is not a huge nor’easter, but the storm takes a perfect track to take full advantage of the cold air in Maine.

By late Saturday afternoon, thick clouds will be overhead as weak snow showers begin to move in. It will not take long for steadier snow to begin, though.

By 6 or 7 p.m., steadier snow moves in. This snow looks moderate, at best, but it should be very fluffy and light. That means clean up will be easy, but it will get slick on the roads.

These moderate snow showers continue for the next 6 hours or so.

Notice the rain snow line is close to southern Maine, but ultimately stays south. This is due to high pressure keeping that cold air locked in place, which should help keep this storm all snow.

If you’re traveling on Saturday evening, take it slow out there.

Early Sunday morning, steady snow will begin to break apart into snow showers.

I do expect some of these showers to last well into Sunday morning, but the bulk of the accumulation happens Saturday evening into Sunday morning.

So, just how much should we expect?

The bullseye for at least 6″ is going to be in southern Oxford county into northern York county. Given the “fluff factor” potential, I wouldn’t be surprised to see even 8″ or so get reported.

For Portland, and most of southern Maine, a solid 3-6″ is on the way. It’s just enough to cause some issues for travel, but roads should clean up pretty nicely for Sunday.

The reason I think this will help us achieve a white Christmas this year is because the pattern is finally flipping into something more wintry. While this is not an active pattern, it should stay cold enough through the entire following week to keep the snow on the ground. This is especially true for grassy and wooded spots.

Obviously, this winter has been lackluster so far. All of Maine is sitting below normal for snow so far.

Given the forecast, Maine might not make up the entire difference, but at least the deficit will not be as big heading into the new year.

For more forecast info, follow me on Twitter, @MikeSliferWX.

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