While Christmas weather will be benign across much of the country with limited areas of White Christmas conditions, a new storm brewing could bring active weather to portions of the northeast with threats of significant snow and/or rain.

Forecast models, such as the American GFS, have been suggesting an area of low pressure will form near the Mid Atlantic on December 30. While it’s too soon to say with certainty if this system will form then or what kind of precipitation field it would create, the potential exists for heavy snow or rain in the northeast once again.  The storm has the potential to drop snow in New York City ahead of New Year’s festivities in Time’s Square.

If there’s sufficient cold air available for this system, snow could fall down the I-95 corridor towards Philadelphia. But if mild air from the Atlantic intrudes north, the primary precipitation type could be rain in Philadelphia and even snow changing to rain in New York City.