After spending the past week in southern Maine with family, it's a bit shocking to return to the DC metro region. I was actually enjoying the cooler temperatures and scattered snow showers New England is so famous for.

I awoke this morning bright and early (around 6 0'clock) to catch a mid morning flight out of PWM, and was able to snatch a gorgeous sunrise characterized by firery red and orange hues, and brings to mind the old adage:

"Red sky at night, sailors delight, Red sky in morning, sailors take warning."

As the sun rises in the east, its rays strike suspended droplets of water, ice, and supercooled water droplets to the west, implying a storm system may be in the works as the clouds move from west to east. And lo and behold, the forecast out of Portland, Maine calls for increasing cloudiness and off-and-on chances for snow through Tuesday.

The "Welcome to 2006" weather forecast:
As we close out an extraordinarily active weather year, the forecast around the Mid Atlantic remains fairly placid as low pressure in the Upper Midwest begins to transfer energy off the East Coast later tonight. A nice little snowstorm will set up for the folks in the Northeast as a second area of low pressure develops a couple hundred miles east of Martha's Vineyard.

We will be left with decreasing cloudiness-at least east of the mountains-which should allow overnight temperatures to drop into the lower 30s. Clouds will hang tough a bit longer on the western slopes of the Appalachians as winds needle in from the west until tomorrow morning as a surface high slides in from the south.

The cloud forecast for Time Square, NY is tricky. Most indications point towards an overcast sky to ring in the New Year, but any showers should be isolated and sporadic. So the festivities in Manhattan should go on sans complications from Mother Nature.

An Historic Tropical season:
And it still keeps on rolling along, even though hurricane season ended over a month ago. Tropical Storm Zeta has been spinning about in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, a couple hundred miles from the Cape Verde Islands.