Cold Friday morning leads into big weekend warmup

The temperature was 27 degrees early Friday morning in Raleigh, which was a 30-degree drop from the same time on Thursday. If not for some cloud cover, though, the temperature could have dropped even more.

"Whenever we have cloud cover it holds in whatever heat there is on the ground," said WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. "Of course, on a day like this, there's not a whole lot, but it still holds it in."

The clouds rolling through the region won't bring any rain. Gardner said precipitation won't return until next week.

Warm weather will follow the clouds, leading into a weekend that could break the record high temperature.

"Saturday just looks beautiful with those warming temperatures, even though it will be cool in the morning," Gardner said. "It'll be a gorgeous afternoon, and Sunday, also, just looks fantastic.

"Sunday, we're probably going to end up breaking the record high."

Runners at the Cupid Run in Knightdale will toe the line at 9:30 a.m. with temperatures in the high 40s. As the race wraps up, the air will warm into the mid 50s.