That may be how it happens for some of us early next week. It’s warm and sunny now, but snow is on the way — just in time for Christmas.

A big cold blast will dive into the Lower 48 this weekend and bring with it some fluffy white snow. Although the exact timing and extent of the cold snap is still in question, it looks like frigid temperatures are likely from at least the northern Plains to the Great Lakes, CWG’s Jason Samenow wrote on Monday:

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The polar vortex, the slithering zone of frigid air encircling the Arctic, will unleash the cold — first arriving in Montana and the Dakotas Wednesday night and reaching the Great Lakes by the weekend. In addition, reinforcing blasts of cold are predicted to keep cycling south through Christmas and beyond. Christmas Eve may feature temperatures 20 to 40 degrees below normal around Denver and Bismarck. By Christmas Day, such cold could envelop Minneapolis and Chicago. Subzero nighttime lows are a good bet.

With the cold comes the snow. The places with the highest chance for a white Christmas are also the areas that usually have snow in late December. But there are a couple of areas that might buck the norm this year.

Before we break it down, we have to note: The meteorological definition of a white Christmas is one inch of snow on the ground at 7 a.m., but come on. Who cares if the snow falls before 7 a.m. or if it arrives in the afternoon? We think this definition is too restrictive so we’re basically going to ignore it.

Break out the sleds

New England, most of Upstate New York, northern Great Lakes, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, western Nebraska, Rockies, Sierra Nevada and the Cascades

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As we said, most of these areas usually have snow on the ground at Christmas. But a couple of places stand out as areas that will be pleasantly surprised to find snow on the ground this weekend into early next week — parts of Upstate New York, Colorado east of the foothills, western Nebraska and most of Wyoming.

Watch the forecast

NYC, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, D.C. region, West Virginia, southern Appalachians, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma, Kansas

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That big cold blast in the forecast for the weekend will bring snow, we’re just not yet sure where it will fall. There’s a decent chance of a swath of snow from Missouri to Michigan, and the mountains of West Virginia will probably cash out on the cold air and moisture. Still unclear is how far south this system will push, which leaves Arkansas, Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle in question.

Don’t hold your breath

Southeast, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, the Southeast outside of the mountains, low-elevation Arizona, all of California that isn’t the mountains