Triangle on watch for Tuesday snow

Sunny skies and mild temperatures will make Monday the exception to an otherwise cold week that includes the potential for snow during Tuesday's evening commute.

Posted 12:13 p.m. Jan 20, 2014 — Updated 7:41 p.m. Jan 20, 2014

RALEIGH, N.C. — Sunny skies and mild temperatures will make Monday the exception to an otherwise cold week that includes the potential for snow during Tuesday’s evening commute. At 2:30 p.m., the National Weather Service began posting winter storm watches for counties in the western part of the state.

Meanwhile in Raleigh, the temperature reached 63 degrees, about 10 degrees above normal for this time of year.

“We’ve got no problems today. In fact, it’s going to be absolutely beautiful,” WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner said. “It’s going to be one of those ‘Sesame Street’ kind of days – one of these things does not look like the other.”

Gardner was referring to the rest of the week, which will see temperatures stay in the 30s and 40s.

A shot of cold air from Canada will reach down into the Triangle by late Tuesday afternoon, bringing precipitation and plummeting temperatures. Raleigh and areas north could see snow flurries or even light snow showers; areas south will get rain.

“This is going to be a Tuesday evening commute issue,” Gardner said. “By 3 p.m., the precipitation begins. By 5 p.m., we’ll see that change-over.”

That cold air will linger, pushing temperatures down to an overnight low of 18 degrees Wednesday. The high that day will struggle to get to the freezing mark.

“Wednesday will be bitterly cold,” Gardner said. The coldest morning of the week will be Friday, which will start at 17 degrees.

Gardner urged residents – especially those who are off work for Martin Luther King Jr. holiday – to get outside and soak up the sun Monday before the cold returns.

“It’s going to be sunny and fabulous,” she said. “Enjoy it.”

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