Ringing in the New Year with Coldest Winter Weather Yet

Those celebrating the onset of 2015 in California and Nevada will be ringing in the New Year not just with champagne and sparklers, but also with the coldest winter weather yet, according to reports.

Thanks to an Arctic chill from Canada, Dec. 31 will see near-freezing temperatures in Southern California, reaching around 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 Celsius) near sunrise, and the upper 30s (0 C to 2 C) later in the day. So for the tens of thousands of people camping out overnight on Pasadena streets for the 126th Rose Parade, bring your gloves, scarves, hats and blankets, because you'll need to bundle up.

Temperatures this low will be the coldest of the winter season so far in this region, forecasters say, approaching Pasadena's Jan. 1 record low temperature of 32 F (0 C) set in 1952.

According to Live Science, this frigid New Year's stems from cold air that originated in northeastern Canada and veered southwest toward California. But The Golden State isn't the only one to see extremely low temperatures (along with snow showers and strong winds).

In Nevada, a rare desert snow may fall as the last few minutes of 2014 flitter by. Snow flurries up to one inch (2.5 centimeters) could accumulate in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve, according to the local National Weather Service office. Lucky for those in Las Vegas this will just be a light dusting. The last time the gambling city experienced a snowstorm was in 1974, when more than four inches (10 centimeters) fell.

With greenhouse gases hitting a record high in 2013, and this year ranking in with the warmest ocean temperatures ever recorded, you would think that things would be heating up, not cooling down. But don't be fooled, climate change is still very real. For the time being, a natural cooling fluctuation has put global warming on a hiatus (since 1998), but scientists say this pause button won't be on forever.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).