5 Things You Need To Know Today, Monday, Dec. 17

Here are 5 pieces of information designed to get your week off to a flying start and to help make you the smartest person in the coffee shop.

1. Your 3-Day Local Weather Forecast:

• According to the NWS, today will see showers. Patchy fog. High near 43. East wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

• Tonight Rain, with thunderstorms also possible after 1am. Areas of fog. Low around 42. Northeast wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
• Tuesday Rain and possibly a thunderstorm. Areas of fog. High near 54. Northeast wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.
• Tuesday Night Showers likely. Patchy fog before 4am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. Light and variable wind becoming northwest 8 to 13 mph in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
• Wednesday A chance of rain and snow showers before 8am, then a chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Northwest wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

2. Reader Comment of the Day: "I just drooled all over my laptop. I'll definitely be making this in the days to come. But I'll serve it in salad bowls so we can all pretend it's good for us. :)" Reader Janine Iamunno, commenting on the story, "A Divine Dessert - Kelly's Almost Heaven in a Bowl."

3. It's Happening Today: The Tewksbury High boys basketball team goes for its second straight win tonight at home against Bedford High. Tap-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

4. Quote of the Day: "We can't just curl up into a ball. We can't just shut off the Christmas lights and say 'That's it.' We (have to) go on. We have to take pause and we have to say a prayer and we've got to keep the people of Newtown, Conn. in our hearts." Trish Bourne, co-organizer of the Candlelight Vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting.

5. It's Happening Today, the Sequel: The Tewksbury Planning Board will be meeting tonight at Town Hall. The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and has a couple of interesting items on the agenda. For the complete agenda, click here.

And Don't Forget: The weather for the next few days is going to be lousy and that's going to make traffic equally lousy. Find out where all the accidents, work areas and general traffic jams are before you get into your car by checking out the Tewksbury Patch Commute Page. We update it every 5 minutes. Click here for all the info.