Asia Ballard went sledding at Buchanan Park Saturday. And she's hoping for a major snowfall this weekend.

But the 12-year-old Lancaster girl doesn't really like winter.

It's been that kind of season.

Cold. Snowy. So long that even kids like Asia wish it would melt into spring. Though not this exact minute.

If it snows a bunch on Presidents Day, a school holiday, Asia explained, she might also get to stay home from class Tuesday.

Her dream could come true if the latest storm shapes up as expected.

"It's looking very impressive,'' Millersville University meteorologist Eric Horst said Saturday afternoon. A moisture-laden bubble of low pressure was charging east from the southern plains. A fierce arctic air mass was rolling south out of Canada.

"I'm very hesitant to throw the 'B' word around,'' said Horst, who noted that there's still an outside chance the storm could pass mostly to the south. But if the soup hits the fan the way most computer models suggest, central and southern Pennsylvania could be in for a whopping blizzard.

Horst expected the storm to begin with light snow in the middle of the afternoon and then intensify rapidly overnight as "it starts throwing a ton of moisture at us off the Atlantic.''

He predicted an accumulation of eight to 16 inches, with the possibility of much more. So did AccuWeather.

Forecasters called for winds gusting to 20 mph overnight Sunday, raising the specter of deep drifts. Temperatures are expected to hover in the upper teens during the day and night Sunday.

Horst said highs should be in the mid-20s Monday, when the snow is supposed to taper off, but then zoom to the upper 40s by late in the week, triggering melting.

For now, though, the sledding is out there. Odds are that a lot of kids _ and adults _ will be too.

"You get cabin fever,'' explained Asia's father, Josh Dixon, who joined her and other family members for some fun Saturday.

"We're making the best of a bad situation.''

Which could have been worse.

A system expected to dump four to eight inches of snow here Friday night failed to add much more than a dusting to this winter's 30-inch tally.

Today's accumulation may also fall short if low pressure veers out to sea after loading the mountains of West Virginia with two feet of snow.

On Saturday, said AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Pastelok in State College, two computer models showed it doing just that while three others said it would sail northeast, pummeling the mid-Atlantic region.

Horst figured the county has a one-in-five chance of a near miss.

Freezing rain is expected to coat trees and wires in Virginia with an inch or more of ice, he said, but the local precipitation mix should feature nothing more than a little sleet.

To Horst, events seemed to mirror a setup that developed 20 years ago this weekend, when he was a meteorology student at Penn State.

"The upshot is Lancaster got 20 inches from that storm.''

Just like the storm, people's reactions to the predicted juggernaut were all over the map.

"We hope it misses us,'' said Josh Dixon with feeling. "I prefer summer myself.''

At Era Ski and Bike Shop, however, owner Todd Kreider was glorying in the first crisp, cold winter in years.

"I like weekly snowstorms,'' he said. "Just two inches on top of everything'' is enough to get folks excited about hitting the slopes.

"This is the kind of winter that brings people who used to ski back into the sport.''

Of course, they might have to dig out their cars before they can get to the mountain.

"You don't have to shovel rain,'' pointed out Ed Heltshe, who was buying flowers at Lancaster Central Market. "I'm getting tired of shoveling snow.''

On the other hand, said Heltshe, who owns Stone Hill Nursery in Conestoga, this winter's pattern of snowfall and gradual melting has been terrific for groundwater and plants.

"Just in six months,'' he said, "my pond went from empty to overflowing.''

But Michelle Rutt, a golfing enthusiast, preferred to bask in the kinds of temperatures that held sway in Lancaster six months ago.

"This is crazy, this weather,'' said Rutt, who was working at the Plum Street Gourmet stand in the market. "Every day of my life I keep saying "Is it spring yet, is it spring yet?'''

Not as of Saturday.

Even the sugar maple trees are saying heck no, we won't flow.

Around here, explained Elton Moshier at the nearby Pure Maple Syrup stand, warmer days and cold nights usually trigger maple sap to start running by mid-February.

Not this winter.

"It's just too cold,'' Moshier said. He doesn't take it personally.

"I come from northern New York originally so I like a little winter. I'd rather have it now than later on!''

Saturday's bluster also failed to freeze an anti-war demonstration held on the steps of the old Lancaster County Courthouse.

Like most people in the red-cheeked crowd of several hundred people, Franklin Martin, Lancaster, was bundled to the hilt.

"I've got layers on,'' noted Martin, who hung onto a battered toy tank as guitar notes sounded and passing motorists honked their support.

"I'm happy with our turnout,'' said Lancaster Peace Coalition member Mary Ries, who added that most of the local demonstrators would have braved a big snowfall.

"There's a lot of people here from out of town,'' added Ries, reeling off a list of cities, including Harrisburg, York and Allentown. Had it snowed a foot, "They might not have made it.''