Christmas storm approaches West, while East gets warmer

(CNN)A winter storm could hit the Rockies and upper Midwest late Saturday, making it a very white Christmas for folks in those parts.

But for most, the weather outside isn’t so frightful — especially if you’re in the central and eastern United States. You might even experience warmer than usual temperatures for December in the Southeast: Atlanta is forecast to reach a high near 70 degrees on Christmas Eve, and Orlando may reach above 80.

High temperatures could be five to 15 degrees above average on Saturday from the plains to the East Coast, according to the National Weather Service.

By Sunday, “high temperatures may reach 15 or more degrees above average for many areas of the Plains, Ohio and Tennessee valleys, and the Southeast,” according to the NWS.

With mellow weather, airports weren’t the nightmare that many have come to dread during the holiday season. On Saturday, the United States had about 1,000 flight delays, according to the FlightAware flight tracking website.

A major winter storm is bringing heavy rain along the coast and widespread, heavy snow in the Rockies. That system is expected to move east into the northern High Plains by late Christmas Eve. It could produce blizzard conditions across parts of the northern plains — bringing a whiteout Christmas this year.

The National Weather Service warned that freezing rain, heavy snow and strong winds of up to 60 mph are possible, which “could create very dangerous travel conditions.”

A blizzard is forecast for North and South Dakota. The National Weather Service in Bismarck warned that traveling would be “dangerous if not impossible” on Christmas and into Monday.