Be sure your car's heater is working and keep the ice scraper handy. The new year is likely to bring freezing fog to parts of the Mid-Columbia.

Overnight temperatures will be in the 20s with daytime highs reaching into the low to mid-30s, according to the national weather service. There's a chance of rain and snow during the weekend but sunshine should bring in the new year.

Anyone heading north to Spokane can expect similar conditions with colder nighttime temperatures. There likely will be snow showers over the weekend, followed by patchy fog into the first of the week.

If you decide to usher in the new year in Portland, you'd better pack your rain gear and a warm jacket. Temperatures will be typical for January, ranging from lows in the mid-30s to highs in the mid-40s, but the forecasters are predicting rain all weekend and on into the new year.

Seattle's only going to be slightly better than Portland with areas of fog over the weekend followed by overcast skies for the start of 2013.

Driving conditions in the passes will be the best they've been in weeks with most of the highways bare and wet.

Travelers can expect:

w Snoqualmie, Highway 90, the roadway is mostly bare and wet but drivers can expect to encounter rain and snow showers over the weekend and clouds for New Year's.

w Stevens Pass, Highway 2, the road is bare and wet with ice in places but the trees which fell across the roadway last week have been removed. Travelers can expect snow flurries over the weekend and clouds for the new year.

w White Pass, Highway 12, the road is bare and wet but the forecast is for snow flurries and rain over the weekend changing to partly cloudy for New Year's.

For recorded mountain pass conditions, call 511 or go to www.wsdot.wa.gov.

For Northwest weather information, check tricityherald.com and click on "forecast."