Dreaming of a white — and windy — Christmas?
A winter storm that brought several inches of snow to parts of the Midwest was set to blanket parts of the Northeast on Monday.
Around 3 inches of snow fell in Chicago, where the hometown Bears beat the Cleveland Browns at a Soldier Field filled with shivering fans and freshly fallen powder on Sunday. O’Hare Airport reported delays of around 30 minutes on Sunday evening.
A half-foot or more was recorded in parts of western Nebraska and more than 4 inches blanketed parts of Missouri and Michigan. In northern Indiana, police said slick and icy road conditions could still make driving difficult for holiday travelers.
Heavy snow was forecast for parts of northern New England on Christmas Day, where amounts could reach up to a foot, according to the National Weather Service.
Strong winds were also set to whip through the area, with several inches of snow likely along the Great Lakes.
That means “a white Christmas for a lot of locations which originally looked a little questionable whether or not we’d have at least an inch of snow on the ground,” said Danielle Bank, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. “We’re going to see a lot of 3- to 5-inch amounts. We know that for sure.”
The Interstate 95 corridor south of Boston was expected avoid the snow, though not the rain and wind. Gusts of 40-55 mph were likely to blow through Boston, New York City and Philadelphia, according to Frank Giannasca, a senior meteorologist for The Weather Channel.
The windchill would make it feel like 20-degree weather, he added.
Travelers in parts of southern New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey could face a slippery morning with freezing rain and/or sleet making holiday journeys hazardous.
The winter weather is expected to stick around through the New Year. Forecasters say repeated surges of bitter, arctic air will keep temperatures below average across the northern United States.