Most of the US won't have snow on the ground on Christmas

Well, at least the snow globes will have a white Christmas.

Most of the United States will not have snow on the ground on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said in a forecast Friday, although the parts of the Rocky Mountains, Minnesota, Wisconsin and other areas close to the Canadian border could be in luck.

“Christmas Day will feature green and brown grass for much of the U.S. — not exactly what Bing Crosby crooned about!” the weather service wrote on X Friday.

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Christmas Day will feature green and brown grass for much of the U.S. - not exactly what Bing Crosby crooned about! But in northern areas and western elevations, snow already on the ground (or expected to fall) is promising a quintessential white Christmas.… pic.twitter.com/NzYNJUurz0

— National Weather Service (@NWS) December 20, 2024

Other parts of the country, including Kansas, Oklahoma, most of Pennsylvania, and other areas of the country were marked “better luck next year” on a map distributed by the weather agency ahead of the holiday.

But all is not lost: Some parts of the Northeast were forecast to possibly get snow showers on Tuesday, the day before Christmas.

Plattsburgh, New York, close to the U.S.-Canada border, has a 50% chance of snow showers Tuesday. Glens Falls has a 40% chance. But those forecasts are for the day, not Tuesday night.

Buffalo, famed for its snow, will get likely get snow Monday night and Tuesday morning but that will probably turn into rain, and Christmas Eve is forecast to be cloudy.

But the Rochester area has a chance of snow showers before 7 p.m., the weather service for that region said, meaning it could happen when Santa is on the way to jump down the chimneys there. The area has a chance of precipitation of 30% Tuesday night.

Snow or no, travelers were expected to take to the skies in the millions Friday ahead of Christmas and Hanukkah, the Transportation Security Administration said.

Friday and Saturday are projected to be the busiest for air transportation in the U.S. of the holiday season, the agency said. On Thursday, before the projected rush, there were 2.6 million air passengers, according to TSA statistics.

The AAA said earlier this month that it was predicting a record of number of travelers in the U.S. for the end of the year.

The organization projects that 119 million people in the U.S. will travel from Saturday to Jan. 1, which is around 65,000 more than the previous record in 2019. Most, around 90%, will drive, it said.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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