You can dream of a white Christmas if you please, but the next chance of that won’t be until 2021. This is a Grinchy forecast through and through.

High wind warnings have been issued for Maine’s entire coastline. These will last from early Friday morning into the early evening hours, since that is when the strongest gusts are expected.

No big changes here. Strongest gusts, likely in the 50-65 mph range, will be at the coastline. I’m thinking Augusta and Lewiston will still probably get some gusts over 50 mph.

Another storm with strong southerly gusts. Merry Christmas to us, am I right? Power outages are looking increasingly likely. Scattered to widespread outages are in the cards for Christmas Day.

I hate to be the local Scrooge, but it might be a good idea to take down the holiday decorations now before the breeze picks up.

Things will be a little more active tonight, but the main event holds off until Friday morning.

By then, heavy rain and strong wind gusts will be working in from west to east.

It’s possible that there could even be a rumble of thunder or two in the early afternoon.

The gusts will taper Friday night as drier air moves in, with calming conditions expected into Saturday. It does look a lot colder on Saturday, though!

Flood watches are also in effect for a lot of Maine, due to the snow pack and rainfall forecasts.

Most will see rain amounts between 1.5″ and 2.5″. In the mountains, particularly on the south facing slopes, totals will end up over 3″.

Combine that with the melting snow and rivers will end up quite swollen.

The National Weather Service is citing the potential for some minor flooding along the Kennebec River, especially near Hallowell.

Nuisance urban flooding is also a factor if any storm drains get blocked. Most of the snow pack is going to be gone by Friday afternoon.

One last interesting note here: the record high in Portland is 62°, which happened on Christmas Day in 2015. I don’t think we will break that, but I’m expecting it to be quite mild Friday. Too bad for the skiers and snowmobilers…

I’ll be out and about with more storm coverage through the day on Christmas. If you want to see it, follow me on Twitter, @MikeSliferWX.

 

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