Weather

Triangle's weekend temps plummet to bring first freeze

There's no snow in the immediate future, but the Triangle will experience its first hard freeze of the season on Saturday night heading into Sunday morning.

Posted Updated

RALEIGH, N.C. — Winter is coming.

There's no snow in the immediate future, but the Triangle will experience its first hard freeze of the season on Saturday night heading into Sunday morning.

A cold front moving in from the Midwest will kick overnight low temperatures down to 28 degrees, said WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. High temperatures will only register in the mid-50s on Saturday—roughly a 20-degree drop from a near 70-degree high on Friday.

The first freeze of the season, though, is coming a bit later than usual.

"We're running a little late on that (freeze)," Gardner said. "Our average first freeze happens generally before Halloween."

The high temperature will rebound a bit on Sunday when it reaches into the low 60s. Those 60-degree highs will persist through next week as low temperatures will stay in the 40s.

Gardner said that despite the cold weather, the weekend will stay dry. A low pressure system potentially developing on Monday and Tuesday, though, could bring the first chance of rain in a while.

"We do need some (rain)," Gardner said. "But the weekend looks nice and dry."

Extreme drought in the western part of North Carolina is helping to fuel wildfires in the mountains. More than 5,000 firefighters and support staff from around the country are helping to fight the fires. Officials suspect the fire started due to arson.
There are plenty of events going on around the Triangle over the weekend—the Triangle Chili Challenge in Cary is sure to be a warm spot in an otherwise chilly weekend.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.