What’s New
With Christmas over, Americans are turning their attention to the season’s next big holiday: New Year’s Eve. But multiple storms are threatening inclement weather across the nation next Tuesday, including New York City, where the famous ball drop takes place in Times Square.
Why It Matters
People from across the world travel to Manhattan to witness the ball drop, with more than a billion others watching across the globe. Last year, hundreds of thousands of people were in New York on New Year’s Eve to greet the new year.
Though rain is unlikely to cancel this year’s celebration to welcome in 2025, attendees will want to dress appropriately and should keep up to date on any weather alerts.
What To Know
This year, rainy weather could put a damper on New Year’s Eve celebrations as multiple storms are expected, with at least one storm taking aim at New York City.
A map from AccuWeather shows that snow is expected in northern New York, Vermont and part of New Hampshire, with rain forecast from southern New York through North Carolina on December 31.
Rain and snow also are expected to hinder celebrations in the Great Lakes region, including in Michigan and Wisconsin, and further south in the Midwest across much of Indiana.
Best fireworks viewing will be in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego, thanks to dry, mild weather, AccuWeather reported.
What to Know if You’re Watching the Ball Drop
Weather has never stopped the Times Square ball drop in the tradition’s history. Even the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t cancel the celebration. The only time New York City didn’t host the ball drop at the pinnacle of New Year’s Eve celebrations was at the end of 1942 and 1943 because of World War II.
What People Are Saying
AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski told Newsweek: “It looks like there’s going to be a storm approaching from the west that evening. We think temperature-wise it’s going to be, for the time of year, relatively mild in the mid- to upper 40s in Times Square that evening. We are concerned with the timing of the storm. There could be rainfall moving in during the evening and occurring in the hours leading up to the ball drop.”
AccuWeather long-range expert Paul Pastelok said in a report: “There can be a storm that arrives New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day that has the potential to produce a mix of rain and snow for the Northeast, with all rain farther south. Rain could arrive before the ball drops in Times Square, but the timing of that remains in flux and something we will continue to monitor.”
Pastelok added: “For the rest of the nation, it should be mild along the Gulf Coast and in the Southeast and dry from the Southwest and into the Plains.”
What Happens Next
The forecast will become more certain in the coming days, so celebrators will have a better idea of what to expect on Tuesday night.
The Times Square celebrations will include performances by Mark Ambor, Mickey Guyton, Carrie Underwood, Megan Moroney, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the Jonas Brothers, TLC, Greeicy, De La Ghetto, Kapo and dance group AGNEW.
The post Storm Takes Aim at New York City’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve appeared first on Newsweek.
