Dreaming of a white Christmas? There's a good chance that you'll get your wish this year.

The National Weather Service is forecasting a mix of rain and snow on Christmas Day, turning to all snow Saturday evening before the storm system moves out of the area.

The chance of snow is 70 percent, the weather service says. Alex Gibbs, a National Weather Service meteorologist for the Peachtree City office, said the wintry mix of precipitation may lead to travel problems across the region Saturday.

The total accumulation of snow in the region is still uncertain, he added.

"As we get closer to Christmas, we'll have a better idea of what the storm will look like. We recommend that people stay updated with their local forecast and make travel decisions based on that," he said.

The Christmas Day high temperature will be 36 degrees. Saturday's low will drop to 28.

The weather service said a strong storm system will move across the Deep South on Saturday, spreading a wintry mix across much of North and Middle Georgia.

Across the North Georgia mountains, the precipitation could be all snow with some accumulations possible.

According to the National Weather Service website, the record for Christmas snowfall in Gainesville was 4 inches in 1947.

Dating back to the 1800s, there have been two distinct times snow accumulated in Atlanta on Dec. 25, and one day in Athens.

"When you look at temperatures for Christmas, we've had quite a few events where it was very cold, but we don't see a lot of white Christmases," Gibbs said.

The holiday weekend looks like it will end with a sunny but chilly Sunday, with highs in the upper 30s to low 40s, Gibbs said.