After low pressure departs the area early Wednesday morning, that will be it for rain for 2023 as we’ll embark on a drying and (slow) clearing trend heading into New Year’s Weekend. Wednesday will probably be the last day we touch 70° this year as cooler and drier air starts to work into the area later in the day. We’ll see dewpoints fall first and then temperatures will follow as we get into the evening hours. This’ll yield a Thursday that starts 10° cooler (but still well above late December normals) and warms to about the mid-60s in the afternoon. We should see a bit more in the way of sunshine on Thursday, but clouds will remain a bit pesky until a stronger (but dry) front gets through late Thursday. We’ll wake up another 10° cooler on Friday, with lows in the upper 30s to around 40° yielding to highs just in the mid-50s as cooler air works into the area throughout the day. At least the sun will be out!

New Year’s weekend: Quiet, cool

Quiet and generally cool conditions continue into the last weekend of 2023. Saturday could get off to a touch of a frosty start with lows in the mid-30s (and perhaps touching freezing in more rural locations). Highs will only warm to the low to mid-50s once again as cool high pressure remains in place. The airmass will begin to moderate a little on New Year’s Eve, though you’ll want at least a light jacket throughout the day as highs top out in the mid-to-upper 50s. Temperatures as we approach midnight will likely be dipping into the upper 30s to low 40s, so keep that in mind as you plan any NYE outfits. New Year’s Day will stay on the cool side of normal, starting in the upper 30s while warming to the mid-to-upper 50s once again with a little bit more in the way of cloud cover ahead of a front that looks to affect the area overnight Monday into Tuesday. Indeed, it looks as if we are going to snap our three-year streak of New Year’s Days with highs reaching at least 70°. It could be the coolest start to a year since 2018 when the high was 34°, but unlike 2018, it’s not going to snow to start the year, either.

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