Alberta clipper could pack a punch ... or maybe not

Mother Nature plans a late Christmas present for our area, plopping down up to six inches today and into early Friday.

The snow may force an early day for shoppers out to cash in those gift cards they got for Christmas leaving retailers to lament yet another storm-shortened holiday shopping spree.

The snow should arrive in earnest by late afternoon, according to Accuweather forecasters, and hang around as a low stalls off the Maine coast.

It is the same snow system that is expected to deliver 18 inches of lake effect snow to upstate New York and part of northern Ohio and also up to 10 inches Downeast.

As usual the Greater Rochester area falls on a snow line with predictions of one to three inches and three to six inches getting equal odds.

Lebanon Road Commissioner Larry Torno said he was hearing the one to three prediction most often and that crews would be ready to plow and/or sand if the conditions warranted.

A fine snow was already falling this morning, but blowing off the roads immediately, keeping them clear so far, he said.

He said if temperatures warmed and snow began to fall harder, it might get sticky and need to be scraped, but so far, it was a waiting game.

If the higher predictions pan out, this will be the month’s fourth plowable storm, certainly higher than average.

“It’s like that,” Torno said. “Sometimes you’ll get a rough December and January and then it’s in the 40s in February.”