Chilly New Year's Eve Weather Expected: Week Ahead in HoCo

Clear skies, highs in 40s this week - After making it through a soggy Sunday, things get better this week, according to the National Weather Service. The high is expected to reach 39 Monday, then 41 on Tuesday with sun both days. On New Year's Eve the temperature will dip into the low-20s, then rise to about 40 on New Year's Day. There's a chance of snow on Thursday, with a high near 43 and low of 22 at night. Friday is expected to be mostly sunny with a high near 28.

What's open/ closed on New Year's Day - New Year's Day is Tuesday, it's a holiday for most workplaces. You can find out what government services will be closed in this link. Trash and recycling will not be collected on Wednesday and will be on a slide schedule so pickups will be made one day later than normal. 

New Year's Eve local events - Check out our Patch calendar for local New Year's Eve parties. We'll have a more comprehensive article of local events to ring in the New Year later today.

What you may have missed since Christmas - A fire engulfed a home in Ellicott City as the family was on vacation, but the house sitter escaped. An apparently lost deer was eaten by cheetahs at the National Zoo after jumping into their enclosure. The wealthy great-granddaughter of heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post was found stabbed to death at a luxury resort in the Caribbean; the Merriweather Post family is well known in Maryland and the amphitheater in Columbia bears their name. A Baltimore native preparing to compete in the luge at the Sochi Olympics received a send-off from Baltimore firefighters last week.