A winter storm headed toward the northeast this week could bring Connecticut's second major snow of the season, weather officials say.

The nor'easter is expected to affect Connecticut on Monday night into Tuesday. The National Weather Service is predicting a mix of rain and snow on Monday night, and then snow on Tuesday, mostly during the morning hours.

With the storm still several days out, it's still unclear what the impact will be on Connecticut.

Gary Lessor, chief meteorologist at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, said the Canadian forecast model has the storm passing by well to the south and missing the state. That model has been right every time this winter, he noted.

The European and U.S. models forecast the storm could bring 9 to 12 inches of snow, he said.

If that comes to pass it will mark the second major snow of the season in Connecticut.

In early January, the season's first widespread snow dumped a foot or more on parts of northern Connecticut, though other parts of the state saw significantly less snow.

The season so far has been mainly marked by rain. Shortly after the snowstorm in January, the state saw several successive rain events.

That quickly melted the snow, leading to severe river flooding in parts of the state. In Bozrah, the high waters caused the partial failure of a dam on the Yantic River, and required officials to rescue some people by boat. The flooding prompted Gov. Ned Lamont to ask the federal government for assistance.

In all of January, 8.37 inches of rain were recorded at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, according to weather service data. The amount was more than 5 inches above normal. It was a little more than an inch shy of the record 9.61 inches of rain that fell in January 1978, records show.

So far this year, Bradley has seen 15.5 inches of snow, all of it in January.

Ahead of this week's storm, Connecticut should see more mild weather over the weekend.

Sunday will be mostly cloudy to partly sunny, with highs in the 40s.

Ahead of the storm, Monday should start out mostly or partly sunny, with highs in the 40s. Showers are possible in the afternoon.

This week should otherwise see much colder weather than what Connecticut saw last week and over the weekend.

Lessor said next weekend could bring the coldest temperatures of the season.

"If you have to prepare for anything, prepare for a change to below normal temperatures," he said.