Winter watch in effect for LI

The snow will not be in time for Christmas, but almost. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for Long Island and parts of Connecticut from Sunday afternoon into Monday.

The watch says a major storm may impact the area, leaving 6 to 9 inches of snow, with higher amounts of local accumulation.

In addition, the service says, Northeast winds are possible with gusts up to 40 miles per hour.

The earliest that snow could fall in the region is late Sunday morning, and the total could be as high as several inches, said the National Weather Service's Kyle Struckmann.

The East End is more likely to see snow, said Struckmann, a meteorologist based at the weather service's Upton station.

Whether it snows depends on the direction of a low-pressure system developing over the Gulf of Mexico, he said. The snow forecast applies across the entire region - from Boston down to Washington, D.C.

Christmas Day will be in the mid-30s, with temperatures dipping to the mid-20s in the evening.

SEE PHOTOSSnowstorms that buried LI over the past 100-plus years

Sunday will be in the mid-30s.