Buy this photo Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: National Weather Service Bay Area Photo: National Weather Service Photo: National Weather Service Photo: Daniel Swain / @weather_west Photo: Daniel Swain / @weather_west Photo: Twitter Screen Grab Photo: National Weather Service Photo: National Weather Service Photo: The Castro Cam Photo: Daniel Swain / @weather_west Photo: Daniel Swain / @weather_west Photo: National Weather Service Photo: National Weather Service Photo: The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Cente Photo: National Weather Service

Amid a December marked by unseasonably low rainfall, forecasters finally see the possibility of a storm moving into the San Francisco Bay Area on Sunday.

"Two of the three computer models are indicating a round of rain beginning New Year's Eve and then New Year's Day," says Steve Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Monterey. "How much? What time is it going to start? It's too early to tell.

The cold front from the Gulf of Alaska could deliver a dusting of snow to the Bay Area's highest peaks, including Mount Diablo and Mount Hamilton.

Northern California has been unseasonably dry this December. A high-pressure ridge has been parked along the West Coast throughout most of the month and blocked moisture-rich Pacific storms.

A ridge will continue to keep conditions sunny and dry around the Bay Area through the end of the year. Highs will be in the 50s and 60s.

"We've got high-pressure stuck along the West Coast," says Ryan Walburn, a forecaster at the weather service's Monterey post. "For the foreseeable future, I have high confidence that it will remain dry.

RELATED STORY: Federal forecast sees drought likely returning to parts of California in 2018

Since Dec. 1, downtown San Francisco has recorded only .15 inches of rain.

If the city doesn't see any more rain this month, it will be the fourth-driest December for records going back over 100 years.

Downtown S.F. has received no rainfall only twice, in 1876 and 1989. During the recent drought, in 2011, the city saw .14 inches.