DUI Patrols, Back To School (Maybe), And Happy (Snowy) New Year!

1. This week it's out with the old and in with the cold. Monday will be a good as it gets in terms of temperatures, with Weather.com predicting a high of 37 degrees and an overnight low of 19 degrees under mostly cloudy skies.

That's going to feel balmy compared to the rest of the week, when temperatures will drop to below freezing and stay there. We're likely to see snow showers on Thursday and there's a good chance we'll see significant snowfall on Friday. Here's the outlook for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day: 

• New Year's Eve: dry, partly cloudy, low temperatures of 33 degrees during the day, 19 degrees overnight.
• New Year's Day: Partly cloudy with a 10 percent chance of precipitation. Low temperatures 28 degrees by day, 25 degrees by night.  

2. Kids are supposed to back to school in New London on January 2 but if the weather comes as predicted, there's a good chance they'll have at least one snow day the first week back.

• Thursday, January 2: Weather.com is predicting a 70 percent chance of precipitation, either rain or snow or some combination of both, as temperatures drop to 33 degrees during the day and to 16 degrees overnight. 
• Friday, January 3: There's a 70 percent chance of snow and we could see a significant amount. Weather.com is predicting four to eight inches. Temperatures will also plummet to new lows, with a high temperature of just 18 degrees during the day and an overnight low of 3 degrees. Add to that northwest winds of up to 22 miles per hour and it's shaping up to be a very wintry day indeed.   

3. Sebastian Tzampop, 29, was scheduled to appear in New London Superior Court on Monday for arraignment on murder charges. New London police arrested Tzampop on Friday after he allegedly confessed to killing his roommate, Antonio Chajon, 39. Chajon was found dead in an apartment on Hope Street on Christmas Day.  

4. The state's strict new gun laws passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting are set to take effect on January 1. Under the laws, semiautomatic weapons and high capacity magazines are banned. The passage of the law prompted a buying spree of those items, however, and as part of a compromise with gun owners no one in possession of either a semiautomatic or large-capacity magazine would be required to turn them in. People will, however, have to register both the guns and the ammo. The deadline to do that by is January 1.  

5. State Police are continuing efforts to crack down on drunk driving right through the holiday weekend. Expect to see an increased police presence and be prepared for sobriety check points over New Year's Eve and through the weekend. Here's where you'll find them locally and around the state. 

Wishing you a very safe, happy, and prosperous New Year!