RALEIGH, N.C. — On the first day of spring, North Carolina was dealt some wintry weather.

In the mountains, there was a winter weather advisory until 6 p.m. for Avery, Madison, Yancy and Mitchell counties. There, about 2 inches of snow was expected to accumulate before rain started to fall.

WRAL WeatherCenter

In central North Carolina, some areas in the Sandhills and the Triangle reported sleet before much-needed rain started to fall.

WRAL Meteorologist Greg Fishel said that the sleet would not last long.

"It will only be around for about 20 minutes before the rain begins," Fishel said.

On Monday in central N.C., the high was forecast to be around 50 degrees, cooler than most highs of last week, when it was still winter. In fact, all this week, forecasters don't expect the Triangle to get close to the normal high of 64 degrees.

For a while over the weekend, forecasters thought there might be more sleet or snow associated with the rain that moved into the Triangle area Monday afternoon.

They backed off that when forecasts for temperatures seemed to move higher.

In the Triangle, a cold rain is expected overnight Monday, with lows in the mid-30s. On Tuesday more rain is possible with highs around 40.