An area of low pressure approaches the area just in time to ring in the New Year, so if you are heading out to any of the First Night activities, make sure you are dressed in layers and have a poncho handy.
Rain arrives in western New England and Connecticut around 5 p.m. and spreads east around dinnertime. For Boston's First Night celebrations, a chilly rain will be falling with temperatures around 40 degrees. There will be enough cold air in place for northern New England and central Massachusetts to start out with a quick wintry mix of snow and sleet before switching over to rain, so expect some slick spots on the roads and sidewalks that haven't been treated.
By midnight, rain will be widespread across southern New England while sectors of northern New England will continue to get some wet snow. And even though this is a mild storm, snow totals will range between an inch near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border to over six inches in central and northern Maine.
This system will move out by New Year's Day but as it does, the wind field will increase and gusts up to 60 mph are possible which could cause isolated power outages.
The wind will begin to decrease by evening setting us up for a chilly night. The New Year starts out quite warm, with highs in the 50s around midday but as the wind switches to the northwest in the afternoon, expect those temperatures to plummet into the 30s, taking us back to reality.
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Wednesday starts out cold, with lows in the teens and 20s, and stays chilly under lots of sunshine.
Our next storm looks to arrive Thursday night into Friday with another round for rain over the South Coast and snow to the higher elevations.
Our exclusive 10-day forecast indicates colder air returning and staying with us next week.
