People planning to go out to bid farewell to 2004 tomorrow had better carry an umbrella as rain is expected during the night going into the New Year.

John Mallia, a forecaster at the Meteorological Office, told The Times the weather tomorrow is expected to be rather cloudy with showers and probably thunderstorms. The thunderstorms would ease by the evening but rain is expected throughout the night.

Mr Mallia said the temperature tomorrow is expected to go down to a low of nine degrees Celsius.

The first day of the new year is also expected to be cloudy with isolated showers during the morning, becoming rather cloudy during the day. Mr Mallia said the highest temperature is expected to be 15 degrees Celsius.

Rain on New Year's Eve would not be a novelty and in fact last year December 31 brought eight millimetres of rain, Mr Mallia said. On the other hand, 0.8 millimetres were measured on January 1 this year.

Mr Mallia said the minimum temperature on New Year's Eve last year was eight degrees Celsius while the highest on January 1 was 14 degrees.

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