Much cooler weather on the way behind Monday evening cold front

WRAL Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel said that while temperatures remained mild late Monday night, cold weather would set in by daybreak on Tuesday.

"Temperatures tomorrow will be more than 20 degrees colder than they were today," he said.

While temperatures typically rise as the sun comes up, Tuesdays temperatures will continue to fall through mid-morning.

"This is a really cold air mass, especially for this time of year," Fishel said. "This is going to be very uncharacteristic April weather over the next couple of days."

Behind the front, overnight lows will dip into the upper 30s early Tuesday. Daytime highs will climb only into the low-50s.

Wednesday morning, a freeze watch is in effect for the bulk of central and eastern North Carolina from 2 until 9 a.m. Lows could dip into the upper 20s in some spots.

"It's going to be a pretty chilly start to the day on Wednesday and again on Thursday," Fishel said. "Then, we'll get a reinforcing shot of cold air for the weekend."

Highs Wednesday and Thursday will be in the mid-60s, but they'll back off into the 50s for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.