Times Square New Year’s Eve rings in 2018

The New Year is coming and so is the cold.

The hundreds of thousands of people expected to descend on Time Square to ring in 2018 with the annual ball drop are going to have to pack together even tighter than usual to keep warm.

Thanks to a pocket of arctic air that’s been blasting New York and the rest of the east coast all week, the Big Apple is on track to experience one of its coldest New Year’s Eve Celebration ever recorded. Forecasts have the high Sunday at 22 degrees.

Temperatures were expected to dip to a chilly 10 degrees while revelers eagerly await the drop of this year’s Waterford crystal ball, which weighs a hefty 12,000 pounds.

An additional 288 panels were added to the 12-foot ball for Sunday’s celebrations. Their pattern is meant to mimic “butterflies flying peacefully above a meadow” to illustrate this year’s theme of “Serenity.”

In total, the ball boasts 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles that glimmer and light up as it makes in its 70-foot descent at exactly 11:59 p.m. New Year’s Eve.

But people put off by the chilly weather don’t have to trek out into the freezing temps to participate in the Time Square festivities — they can instead watch through a live webcast or mobile apps.

After a less than “rockin’” performance last year, Mariah Carey is slated again to return to the Time Square stage.

The annual event is set to be hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy and will also feature performances by Camila Cabello and Nick Jonas.
Andy Grammer is slated to headline the live Time Square New Year’s Eve commercial-free webcast and country music-singer songwriter Lauren Alaina is also scheduled to perform.

Last year’s webcast was enjoyed by more than 3.6 million viewers while more than one million people rang in the New Year in Times Square.

Those hoping to see the ball drop in person should head to the city “as early as possible,” officials said.

“We cannot predict how quickly the viewing areas will fill up. Prime viewing areas may fill up early in the afternoon.”

Revelers have traveled to celebrate the New Year in Times Square since 1904 and the first ball was dropped in 1907.