Snow and cold have greeted students this week as they prepare for finals, and the chilly winter weather might be sticking around for the holidays.

Bill Gallus, assistant professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, said the “coldest weather yet” this year looks to be in store with a snow system moving in early this week.

“It looks like a bad week for traveling,” he said.

The worst days will probably be Sunday through Tuesday, he said.

“The week before Christmas may return a little more to normal,” Gallus said.

He said the normal temperatures for this time of year is 30 degrees as a high during the day and in the teens at night.

“After three years of abnormally warm winters, it is going to seem very cold,” he said.

As for the possibility of snow blanketing the ground on Christmas morning, Gallus said it is considered normal to have a white Christmas about 50 percent of the time.

“There is a good chance that it will be white for Christmas this year,” he said.

Tom Clemmon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Johnston said this year “looks like your typical Iowa winter.”

In the forecast for the next week are “below normal temperatures with above normal precipitation.”

Clemmon said in 1998 new highs were recorded in December when the temperatures ranged from 63 to 67 degrees.

“This year will be quite different from previously. We are averaging below normal right now and can continue to see this in the later half of the month,” he said.

Trends show it could be cold enough to bring the potential for snow after Christmas in the statistical outlook for Christmas through New Year’s, Clemmon said.

“Historically from Dec. 25 through Jan. 5 we have seen from two to 18 inches [of snow] on any given day,” he said.

However, Gallus said it can be difficult for scientists to predict weather many weeks in advance.

Forecasts longer than two weeks depend on previous norms, he said.

“We rely on computer models, [and those] we can get out two weeks at a time,” he said.