Snow in New York heralds the arrival of winter — but may not stick around until Christmas

On the first day of winter, New Yorkers woke up Saturday to a light layer of snow on the ground. But while the fluffy ground cover boosts the Christmas spirit, those hoping for a white Christmas are in need of a miracle.

“At this point the snow is pretty much over,” Fox Weather meteorologist Marissa Lautenbacher told The Post Saturday morning.

The National Weather Service defines a “white Christmas” as an inch or more of snow on the ground as of 7 a.m. on Dec. 25. “So that doesn’t necessarily mean that snow will fall on Christmas,” explained Lautenbacher.

However, with temperatures expected to rise above freezing before the holidays, “I really don’t think that two inches of snow is going to stick,” she added.

The last time New Yorkers saw a white Christmas was in 2009, when 2 inches glittered over the city.

Snow totals across the metro area on Saturday ranged from 1.8 inches in Central Park and JFK Airport to 2 inches at LaGuardia Airport and 2.2 inches in Newark, New Jersey.

The morning storm didn’t exactly come at the best time of year for those embarking on one of the busiest travel days of the season.

Both LaGuardia and JFK reported delays of up to 1 hour and 49 minutes, as well as gate delays and mid-air delays for arriving flights. About 19% of LaGuardia flights and about 23% of JFK flights were delayed, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.

At Newark Liberty Airport, about 18% of flights were delayed. There were also a handful of flight cancellations at all three airports in the region.

Temperatures are expected to rise to a high of 34 degrees in Central Park on Saturday, but will fall to as low as 20 degrees overnight.

“The cold will come tonight and the rest of the weekend into Monday,” Lautenbacher said.

“We lose a lot of our heating overnight.”

Sunday will be the coldest day before Christmas with a maximum temperature of 26 degrees, which will also be the coldest day so far of this year’s meteorological winter, which began on December 1st.

“The last time it was colder was at the beginning of the year, on January 17th, when it was 24 degrees,” said Lautenbacher.

However, there is a bright spot on Sunday that will bring some rays of sunshine.

“The sunshine makes it a little warmer,” she said.