Despite a few festive inches of snow in Northern New England on Saturday, it's likely that dreams of a white Christmas will be dashed locally.
Winter officially begins at 11:48 p.m. eastern time on Monday, just as another warm up spreads into New England. Highs on Monday will reach into the 40s and 50s, with lots of clouds and a couple of spotty showers. In far Northern Maine, the warm air moving in will likely trigger a brief batch of snow; however, just a dusting-2 inches is expected for most there.
Tuesday brings more of the same, as highs again cruise into the 40s and 50s across New England. Wednesday will be similar, meaning what little snow there is in Northern New England will be melting.
If the snow does manage to survive into Christmas Eve, it faces what amounts to a blow torch from Mother Nature. Highs will be in the 50s and 60s across the region on Thursday, challenging records from Burlington to Boston.
Speaking of records, it's virtually certain that another record will soon fall in Worcester, Massachusetts. As it stands now, the latest first measurable snow in the city came on Dec. 24, 1923. With no snow in the forecast this week, 2015 will likely claim that record.
While it's not uncommon to have bare ground in Southern New England on Christmas, a non-white Christmas in the northern tier of New England actually is fairly rare.
Since records began in Caribou, Maine for example, just six years haven't featured snow on the ground. Those years include 1957, 1973, 1998, 2001, 2006, and 2010.
