4 Things To Know If You're Heading To Times Square New Year's Eve

Are you heading into NYC Sunday to watch the ball drop in Times Square? Here are four tips for you and your million or so friends.

1. Bundle up. Meteorologists predict temps of just 12 degrees, and the wind chill will be fierce. That means layers, but not just any layers. Wool, silk or polypropylene hold more body heat than cotton. Wool socks (take an extra pair) and comfortable, water-resistant boots. Your outer coat should have a hood and be tightly woven and water-repellent says the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. Have you considered buying some of those disposable hand warmers? Put them in your boots too.

2. Take Metro-North. The railroad is offering expanded service for Hudson Valley residents to and from Grand Central Terminal all day long on Sunday and into the wee hours for New Year's Eve for celebrants traveling to the Big Apple to ring in 2018. The railroad encourages customers traveling to New York to purchase round-trip tickets before boarding Grand Central Terminal bound trains. On the night of New Year's Eve, tickets will be collected prior to boarding trains at Grand Central Terminal. Metro-North reminds customers that drinking alcohol on trains and at stations is banned from noon New Year's Eve until noon New Year's Day.

3. Expect to see a lot more security. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the Port Authority and State Police to beef up their presence at airports, bridges, tunnels and rail and bus terminals with bag checks and heavily armed officers. The MTA will also be monitoring its security systems for any threats. The NYPD's heavily armed counterterrorism officers will be out in full force throughout the Times Square area, alongside an increased number of bomb-sniffing dogs, NYPD Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan said. Anyone entering Times Square will have to go through two separate security checkpoints — one at the entrance points at Sixth and Eighth avenues and another at the entrance to the viewing pen. Each person will either be wanded or go through a metal detector after passing by cops armed with long guns and more highly trained bomb-sniffing dogs.

4. Don't pack a lot of stuff. No large bags or coolers will be allowed inside the Times Square area.

PHOTO: A couple kisses on New Year's eve in Times Square in New York City just after midnight on Jan. 1, 2017. Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images