A white Christmas appears to be on the horizon for Maine, forecasters say, with at least a few inches of snow on the way Tuesday into Wednesday. The flakes, though festive for some, could cause headaches for holiday travelers.

A low-pressure system is expected to drop several inches of snow across Maine starting Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service has issued a winter storm watch for coastal Maine, including Greater Portland, and is warning that the incoming system could disrupt travel ahead of the holiday on Thursday.

The return of wintry conditions comes after a brief blast of unseasonably mild, windy and rainy weather late last week melted much of the snow that had built up during the frigid cold that gripped most of the state during early December.

Snowfall totals in parts of southern Maine, including Portland, and the Midcoast could exceed 6 inches between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, meteorologist Stephen Baron said from the weather service office in Gray on Monday.

Residents in other areas, including central and western Maine, could see 3-5 inches of snow in the same time frame, Baron said.

The snowfall could disrupt holiday travel on the roads and at the Portland International Jetport.

Assistant Airport Director Zachary Sundquist anticipates some delays Tuesday, though he noted that Monday is the jetport’s busiest travel day of the season and no issues had arisen as of early evening.

Passengers traveling Tuesday and Wednesday should make sure to check their flight status before heading to the jetport, Sundquist said in an emailed statement.

Maintenance crews across the state are preparing for the snow, said Maine Turnpike Authority spokesperson Rebecca Grover. She said crews will work with the authority’s communications center to determine when plows should be deployed and whether speed limits on the highway should be reduced.

Grover said drivers should make sure to take care of their vehicles during and after a snowstorm by clearing off snow and filling up with gas before departing for their holiday destinations.

The incoming snow also prompted several Maine communities to issue parking bans ahead of the storm.

Bath, Brunswick, Freeport, Kennebunkport, Lewiston, Old Orchard Beach, Rockland, Saco, Sanford and Topsham all have bans in effect from Tuesday into Wednesday.

WHITE CHRISTMASES RARER AND RARER

The National Weather Service defines a “white Christmas” as having 1 inch or more of snow on the ground by Christmas morning — a phenomenon that has become somewhat scarce in recent years.

Historical data from the weather service indicates that in the Portland area, 90 out of 153 Christmases on record — or about 59% — have counted as an official white Christmas. But in the past 10 years, only four Christmases have qualified.

Over that same stretch, the Bangor area has had five white Christmases, and the Caribou area has had nine, with 2020 the outlier.

Baron said the recent decrease could be attributed to the rapid warming of the Gulf of Maine, which makes weather more mild in coastal areas.

In the 1900s, Baron said, Maine saw several clusters of white Christmases for multiple years in a row.

One of the largest recorded Christmas snow totals during that period was 39 inches in 1970. That total was measured after a record-setting nor’easter dropped almost 2 feet of snow and was then followed by a “near-blizzard” on Christmas Eve.

On the other side of the record book, the warmest Christmas on record came in 2015, when temperatures in some areas cracked the low 60s.

This week’s weather system will bring below-freezing temperatures across the state, which means the fluffy snow should stick around until the holiday on Thursday, Baron said.

He added that some areas may see another, less impactful low-pressure system that brings more flakes Thursday.

A winter storm watch is in effect from 1 p.m. Tuesday to 1 p.m. Wednesday covering most of Cumberland County, as well as all of Androscoggin, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln and Waldo counties and the coastal portion of Hancock County.

A less-severe winter weather advisory is in effect from noon Tuesday until 7 a.m. Wednesday for all of Franklin, Oxford and York counties, the western tip of Cumberland County, northern Hancock County, southern Piscataquis County, southwestern Penobscot County and southern Somerset County.