Forecasters see chance for white Christmas

Winter will make a less-than-dramatic arrival early Sunday in the Lawrence area, but meteorologists say there’s hope for a white Christmas.

Fall officially ends at 1:14 a.m. Sunday, and forecasters say temperatures that morning probably will be in the high teens or low 20s. The rest of the day will be partly sunny with the high in the lower 40s.

“That’s about average for the first day of winter,” said Kyle Poage, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka.

Friday’s blustery north winds, which brought gusts as high as 32 miles per hour at Lawrence Municipal Airport, should be calmer as well.

But snow could be just around the corner, even if it isn’t much.

“It’s still possible we could see some snow Tuesday,” Poage said.

Matt Makens, 6News meteorologist, said forecasters were tracking a winter storm in the western United States that could bring snow to Lawrence on Christmas Eve.

“Right now it looks like it could miss us to the south,” Makens said.

But don’t get out the sleds just yet, Poage said. It’s likely that any snow Tuesday would bring a “just barely” white Christmas to the area, he said.

“If it snows, it should be cold enough to still be on the ground Wednesday,” Poage said.