Most of U.S. Only Dreams of a White Christmas

People near the Great Lakes settled in Monday for a white Christmas, but much of the country was in for nothing but cloudy skies and rain.

Snow was scattered across the Great Lakes and upper Ohio Valley, and a few snow showers fell over northern New England.

The heaviest snow fell along the south shores of Lake Superior, east of Lake Michigan and east of Lake Erie; parts of Michigan got up to 15 inches.

There were snow showers around Minnesota and Iowa.

Clouds covered much of the Eastern Seaboard, bringing scattered showers.

Conditions were calm in much of the mid-Atlantic, along the Ohio River through the Gulf Coast and much of the Plains.

High pressure around the northern Rockies and eastern Great Basin resulted in dry and partly cloudy to fair conditions.

There was patchy fog along the Pacific Coast, portions of the Great Basin and over the interior valleys of California.

Temperatures in the lower 48 states ranged from 81 degrees in Boca Raton and Witham Field, Fla., to minus 19 in Stanley, Idaho.