New year is bringing new cold to Triangle

December may have left many folks shaking their heads – and quite possibly smiling – at what passed for winter, but January is going to make a statement quickly.

Sunday's balmy mid-60s temperatures notwithstanding, the week ahead promises three nights in a row with below-freezing temperatures and chilly daytime highs. The WRAL forecast calls for us not to see 60 again until Friday.

 The warmest Jan. 1 was recorded in 1985, when the mercury reached 75 degrees at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The coldest was 1977, when it dipped to 13.

The change begins Monday. The work week could begin a good 20 degrees cooler than the weekend, meteorologist Mike Moss said, and the downward momentum keeps up after that.

"A cold front and a sharpening upper-level trough over the eastern U.S. may keep a lot of us on the short side of 40 degrees all day by Tuesday, with a blustery wind to go along with the colder temperatures," Moss said.

A very gradual warming trend through the end of the week gets the outlook back to or above the 50-degree mark on Thursday.

The cold will be unaccompanied by any moisture that could mean snow or ice. Days will be dry, clear and cold. Nights will dip to as low as 20 degrees.