Sunny, but cold this week

Cold temperatures and biting wind gusts will make the Triangle feel more like December than fall the next couple days.

"A very cold air mass will settle across the region (Tuesday) and linger for the next couple of days. Low temperatures (Tuesday night) are expected to drop to freezing across the region," according to the National Weather Service.

Freeze watches and warnings for more than 50 North Carolina counties are in affect from midnight Tuesday to 9 a.m. Wednesday.

"For tonight, mostly clear skies. The freeze warning is up and certainly some of the rural areas, usually where it gets colder than it does at Raleigh-Durham International Airport ... could do that (freeze)," WRAL Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel said.

When the cold front pushed over the state Monday, temperatures plunged and even spit wintry precipitation over some counties.

"This storm is finally beginning to pull away. So we should see an abundance of sunshine for the next several days and we don't have any precipitation in our forecast for the next seven days," Fishel said.

Winds up to 30 mph will drive out the clouds Tuesday but not the cold. Highs will not get above the mid 50s – a mark that is average for December.

Some relief from colder temperatures, though, lurks at the end of the week. The high jumps into the upper 60s and low 70s Friday and Saturday.