showers. the first time it s rained in times square on new year s eve since 1994. that s the year i graduated from high school. i don t know if there s a connection to that at all. jennifer gray joining me now live from the cnn weather cen r center. it could get a little ugly, jenner. it could. once it starts raining in times square, it s not going to stop. so all of those people waiting for the ball to drop, they re going to be in for the long haul. it s going to be raining in philadelphia, d.c., as well. and all of these cities to the west. chicago, cleveland, cincinnati, st. louis, and even some storms all the way down the mississippi river valley, into places like baton rouge, new orleans, very popular new year s eve spots could be soaked for tonight. there is also a severe weather risk, and that extends from the south up to places like lexington, where we could see damaging winds, isolated tornadoes, and even the possibility of hail.
tonight, it is supposed to be 48 degrees fahrenheit at 12:00 midnight. that compares to last year when it was 2 degrees fahrenheit, but it wasn t raining last year. we re expecting a lot of rain here like in times square. having grown up in western new york, 48 on new year s eve, many people in that part of the world will take it. gary tuchman, thanks and so exciting that you and your daughter get to report this story together. thank you, gary. as we countdown to the new year, the days to the partial government shutdown are racking up. day ten and president trump is not budging on his border wall, as house democrats plan to vote thursday on a package of spending bills to reopen the government, on the same day they take control of the chamber. caught in the middle, well, 800,000 federal workers who still have no idea when their next paycheck is coming. more than half of them have been working without pay. what s more? president trump just froze their pay for 2019, saying the federal
typically we come in at 39. midnight it will be ten degrees warmer than where it s supposed to be. this heavy rain along the eastern part of the nation, we ll see this all day long. it will pick up in the afternoon. see it into new year s day before it takes off later. back to the west we re looking at intense chill. frigid temperatures. some temperatures below zero with wind chills feeling like minus 20 in some spots. not good there. back to the four corners, mountain snow, arizona, utah, new mexico. then by midnight i mentioned heavy rain still in the eastern part of the nation. if you re out and about you want to plan for this. you want to bring the umbrella. i know you re not allowed to in times square. wear something with a hood at least and then back to the west you want to dress in layer. look at the temperature. minus 16. 16 degrees below zero. have you guys been to times square? like during the day where you tanned there for 24 hours? i know you go to times square on new year
happy new year! organizers there for the legendary new year s celebration in times square, they practice the confetti drop. luckily all systems are go. some 2,000 pounds of more than 900 kilos of new colorful confetti will be hand dropped into times square on new year s eve. organizers expect 1 million people to ring in the new year there. and as much work as it took to prepare, it will take just as much work to clean it all up. that s this hour of cnn news room. i m george howell at the cnn in atlanta. new day is next. this is the cable news nerk, cnn, the news world leader. there s no place like home
tomorrow night. some arriving at least 12 hours in advance. they will need to pack their patience and maybe a poncho. it s going to be rainy in the northeast. accu weather has a look at the nation s weather. erin? reporter: well, jon, that s for sure. hopefully, they have on those rubber boots and that poncho because we could see up to an inch of rain across new york. 48 degrees in times square on new year s eve, real-feel at 45. notice the rain clouds. yes, we are going to see plenty of rain, a bit of a breeze. here it is already getting started in the south, this moisture. it s going to push off to the north and to the east, and it is going to e eventually reach the northeast. the good news is with that moist air coming in from the south, we re also going to see some warmer temperatures. so by the morning time washington, d.c., philadelphia, you re going to see that wet weather, reaching new york in the afternoon. here s the future cast. notice at lunchtime it s already wet across