Christmas weather forecast calls for high winds, snow in Mid-Atlantic, New England The high winds threatened to delay flights at busy airports in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, meteorologists said. Because of the winds, departing flights were delayed at Dulles International Airport and at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Administration said. More than 87 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more away from home over the holidays, the travel and auto group AAA has forecast. Nearly nine out of 10 will be on the roads, it said. Residents in and around Buffalo awoke on Saturday to 4 to 6 inches of snow - the season's first significant accumulation in the notoriously snowbound region. Typically, the area would have roughly a foot of snow by Christmas, but there has been little or nothing this year. "There was something missing," Mayor Rob Ortt of North Tonawanda, N.Y., just north of Buffalo, said of judging the city's holiday lighting contest in the past week. I think this was the first year there was no snow, not even a dusting. "Everyone thinks of us as a place where snow is, and you relish it at Christmastime," he said, adding, "When we have snow around St. Patrick's Day, that's when people get annoyed." The National Weather Service predicted a few more inches of snow for the Buffalo region on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. A new storm could bring snow as well to the central Appalachians, northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, Accuweather.com said. Residents of Harrisburg and Scranton, Pa., eastward to Hartford, Conn., and Boston could expect a white Christmas, it said. "It could be a white Christmas after all in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, New England and other areas across the nation," said Alex Sosnowski, Accuweather senior meteorologist. New York City is likely to see a mix of snow and rain, he said. Several inches of snow fell Saturday in parts of western Pennsylvania. In central New York, snowfall of up to an inch an hour at times was predicted by the National Weather Service. Ski resort operators in western New York greeted the snow with relief and said the cold air was making conditions ideal for making snow. "It hurts not to be open yet," said Andy Minier, ski racing coordinator at Kissing Bridge ski area, about 30 miles south of Buffalo. On Saturday, high winds buffeted the New York City metropolitan area, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, the National Weather Service said. It predicted hazardous wind conditions for Upstate New York, northwestern Connecticut, southern Vermont and western Massachusetts. Wintry air blowing off the eastern Great Lakes was causing icy conditions in western and northern Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and West Virginia as well, Accuweather said. On the Gulf Coast, meteorologists say, dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes are expected on Christmas Day. The affected areas are likely to be southeastern Texas, central and southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, Accuweather said. Cities in those areas include Houston; Baton Rouge and New Orleans in Louisiana; Gulfport, Miss.; Montgomery and Mobile in Alabama; and Pensacola, Fla; it said.