New Year’s Eve forecast: Warm and clear before drop in temperatures, rain

Enjoy the warm and dry weather when you’re celebrating ringing in the New Year in the D.C. area before rain and a drop in temperatures is expected in the first few days of 2022.

Storm Team 4 meteorologist Lauryn Ricketts said Friday should be warm and enjoyable, featuring a “nice day with some sunshine and temperatures around 60.”

Then, a drop of temperatures and some wet weather is expected to move into the area.

“As we ring in the New Year we could have a few showers prior to midnight, but most rain will fall by Saturday morning and into Saturday afternoon,” Ricketts said.



She said that temperatures on Saturday will be mild in the low 60s before turning a little cooler.

“A cold front will sweep through the area by Sunday morning bringing an end to this roller coaster weather,” Ricketts said. “We will likely hit our daytime highs on Sunday morning with temperatures gradually dropping on Sunday afternoon.”

And that could possibly bring some snow but nothing major.

“Depending on the timing of the cold front, there is a chance for some snowflakes to push in to the region by Sunday afternoon and Sunday night,” Ricketts said.

“At this point the confidence is low on that and I’m not expecting anything to stick considering the mild temps leading up to Sunday evening.”

But with that possibility of some snowflakes comes some windy weather.

“One thing we do know is that it will become fairly windy on Sunday, with wind gusts out of the northwest up and over 30 mph,” Ricketts said.

She said it will get pretty cold Sunday overnight into Monday. Temperatures will drop into the 20s.

“Winds will stay breezy with wind chills Monday morning in the teens. Daytime highs only rebound into the mid to upper 30s by Monday afternoon with plenty of sunshine,” Ricketts said.


Forecast:

Thursday: Mostly cloudy in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 50s to low 60s.

Thursday evening: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the 40s.

Friday (New Year’s Eve): Partly to mostly sunny with increasing clouds. Dry with chances of rain in the late evening. Highs in the low 60s.

Friday evening (New Year’s Eve): Rain possible before midnight with better chances of rain after midnight. Low to mid 50s.

Saturday (New Year’s Day): Cloudy and warm with heavy rain at times. Highs in the low 60s.

Sunday: Windy with rain tapering off slowly throughout the day. Highs in the 60s and falling.


Current conditions:

Valerie Bonk

Valerie Bonk started working at WTOP in 2016 and has lived in Howard County, Maryland, her entire life. She's thrilled to be a reporter for WTOP telling stories on air. She works as both a television and radio reporter in the Maryland and D.C. areas. 

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