POCATELLO - Meteorologist Dawn Harmon has a suggestion for those looking to get some Christmas shopping done today - the earlier the better.

Harmon, who works at the National Weather Center in Pocatello, said a winter weather advisory is in place for the Snake River Plain through Monday, which means snow and blowing snow could be prevalent.

"We may see some light showers in the early morning, but it won't get heavy until late afternoon or early evening," Harmon said. "It looks like for this part of the valley it will mainly be an overnight into Monday event."

She said between three and five inches of snow could fall during the storm. A slight increase in temperatures, which she expects to creep up near freezing, means the snow will be slightly wetter than what has fallen in recent days.

Unfortunately, Harmon said, those temperatures will dip right back down once the storm passes on Monday.

"We'll see what we have been seeing recently, probably single digits at night and about 20 (degrees) during the day," she said.

Harmon said the Northwest has fallen into a pattern similar to a year ago when the weather systems are running about every three days.

"Tuesday and Wednesday we get a break, but it looks like we may wake up to a white Christmas," she said.

Again, Friday and Saturday should be relatively clear, but another system is currently forecast to hit Southeast Idaho during the weekend. She said each system is slightly different so the storms won't be an exact repeat.s