Clear and cold this way-too-early Wednesday here along California’s north coast — the last day of 2014.
And to an old guy, anyway, a chill-ass ending to the year.

Relatively-weirdly speaking, of course: ‘Las Vegas could see snow and rain Wednesday night and is expected to see a high of only 44 degrees Thursday.
Those who have spent a year putting together Las Vegas’ fireworks show said the party has not been called off yet, but warned that winds of more than 10 mph could force a postponement.
“But we’ll be ready to go. The theme this year, is ‘don’t stop the party,’ so we’re not going to stop it yet,” Phil Grucci, coordinating the show, told NBC station KSNV.‘

Did you know, the word, ‘yet,’ can be used as both an adverb, and a conjunction — a connecting pause-like effect.

(Illustration: Pablo Picasso’s ‘Musician, Dancer, Goat & Bird‘ found here).

Snow falls in some unlikely places, and west to east as what’s considered the first winter storm of 2015 to kick off New Year’s Day. And the cold will be all over: ‘“Temperatures will plunge well below zero from portions of the Dakotas and northern Minnesota at night through the end of 2014,” said Accuweather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.’
Who adds: ‘“…”that while the consumption of alcohol can make you feel warmer, it can sharply lower your core body temperature.”‘
This brace of coldness, though, is not long-lasting — maybe the opposite, in an unnatural way.

And new-normal weird (yesterday via Climate Central):

The globe is on track for its warmest year on record.
But global average temperature watchers won’t be the only ones feting record heat when the clock strikes midnight on Wednesday.
A number of U.S. urban areas will also join in the record-setting festivities while not a single major urban area will be raising a glass to record cold.
In fact, it’s been nearly 30 years since a major U.S. city had a record cold year.

And breaking-open a new calendar.