The first rain chance of the new year arrives on Saturday as low pressure along a cold front develops and approaches the area. We’ll clear out in time for a pleasant and seasonable Sunday, though.

I hope you and yours are having a nice and safe start to your 2026! We certainly have had a nice day of weather on Thursday to kick the new year off right, but the first storm system of the year won’t waste any time getting through the area on Saturday.

We’ll get 2026 off to a slightly chilly but seasonable start with surface high pressure in control. Temperatures will fall to the mid-30s by morning, with some freezing temperatures possible closer to I-95. With plenty of sunshine, though, temperatures will rebound right to where they should be for the beginning of the year, with highs peaking around 60° in the afternoon. It’ll be a bit breezy, especially in the morning, but those winds will slacken some as we head into the evening.

2025 will finish on a chilly note, but temperatures will moderate heading into 2026, with near-normal temperatures expected to start the new year.

A cold front getting through the area Monday afternoon will usher in much cooler air for Tuesday. We’ll start the day around freezing away from the coast, with wind chills bottoming out in the mid-to-upper 20s in the morning thanks to northwesterly winds around 5-10 MPH. This breeze continues for much of the day. Despite full sunshine, the ongoing influx of cold air will keep highs pinned to the low 50s across the metro.

One more unseasonably warm day is on tap for Monday before the airmass flips, which will help us usher in 2026 on a cooler and more seasonable note.

Quiet weather continues this weekend, though the temperature rollercoaster will continue to roll on as record highs Saturday yield to cooler (but still warmer-than-normal) temperatures on Sunday.

I hope everyone celebrating had a very Merry Christmas! It was certainly a warm one as the high reached 78° today, just two degrees off the record of 80° last set in 2015 and cementing itself ahead of Christmas 2016 for the second-warmest Christmas high temperature on record at the airport.

A backdoor cold front stalling nearby will drive more cloud cover into the area for Friday as well as a bit more in the way of onshore flow, which will make for a cooler day (though temperatures will remain above normal). Lows in the low-to-mid-50s will warm to the upper 60s to around 70°. Model guidance keeps the core of the cold air damming regime to the north of the area, but some spots further north in the Tri-County could see temperatures come in a little cooler than that depending on how far south the front penetrates.

Sprawling high pressure aloft over the central part of the country will keep warmer-than-normal temperatures in the forecast through Christmas and heading into the weekend. There are changes coming, though, in the form of an Arctic blast that will bring 2025 to a chilly end.

The main weather story for the week ahead — including Christmas Day — will be much warmer-than-normal temperatures as high pressure aloft will remain the dominant weather feature across a good bit of the continental US.