The first cold front of the new year is on the way. How cool will it get?
By Howard Cohen and
Michelle Marchante
It’s that cold dog photo again, as temperatures are expected to dip into the 60s on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2020, and then the 50s in South Florida over the weekend. In this December 2017 file photo, the French bulldog, “Ms. Tata” wears her cold weather gear as tourists and locals gathered in Wynwood Yard.
CARL JUSTE
cjuste@miamiherald.com
Forecasters say a cold front will start settling into South Florida later Tuesday, bringing drier air and cooler temperatures with it just in time for New Year’s Eve.
While most of South Florida was under a dense fog advisory during Tuesday’s morning rush hour, your New Year’s Eve commute should be much smoother.
For what seems the first time in a couple days, there is no hazardous weather alert from the National Weather Service in Miami applied to New Year’s Eve.
Forecasters say they don’t expect to see any fog and that the skies should be relatively clear, with the exception of fireworks lighting up the night.
If you have New Year’s Eve plans, think about taking a sweater, though. Maybe show off your new holiday threads if they are snugly and warm.
Temperatures are expected to drop into the low 60s in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties later Tuesday.
Those living by the coast could see temperatures in the upper 50s, with those living along the western areas might shiver in the lower 50s.
But it’s the weekend when the hazardous weather alert is expected to flash on again. That’s when there will be a likely arrival of thunderstorms to usher in a cold front. Temperatures could dip into the upper 50s in Miami-Dade and Broward on Saturday night.
This will be South Florida’s first chill of 2020 and it’s a relatively mild test run, so no real worries at this time.
Highs will only hit about 68 degrees Sunday before inching up to 72 degrees Monday. It will be 1 to 2 degrees chillier in Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the National Weather Service, with a shared 40% chance of showers Friday night.
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription
Miami Herald consumer trends reporter Howard Cohen, a 2017 Media Excellence Awards winner, has covered pop music, theater, health and fitness, obituaries, municipal government, breaking news and general assignment. He started his career in the Features department at the Miami Herald in 1991. Cohen is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Communication.Support my work with a digital subscription
