Sweater weather? Triangle temperatures to get ‘sharply cooler’ over next few days.

Beginning Saturday night, and for the next couple of early mornings and late evenings, temperatures in the Triangle are expected to drop considerably, all the way down to the mid to low 40s.

Friday’s high is expected to be near 86 degrees with lots of sunshine, the National Weather Service in Raleigh says.

But a cold front moving in Saturday afternoon, expected to bring a band of showers, will usher in “sharply cooler” temperatures Saturday night, said Michael Strickler, a lead meteorologist at NWS Raleigh.

“It’s not going to be sharply cooler during the afternoon. It’ll likely gradually fall through the 70s, maybe some 60s by the time we approach sunset, but then overnight, the cold air continues to filter in, and that’s when temperatures will be down in the 40s,” Strickler said.

Sunday will likely see high temperatures in the mid to upper 60s, before they drop again to the low 40s on Monday and Tuesday mornings, Strickler said.

So if you’re going out for a walk, or have an early morning commute, you might want to grab a sweater.

Outside the Triangle, Roxboro, Sanford and Siler City could see lows in the upper 30s.

By the middle of next week, however, temperatures should “moderate through the 70s.”

“It looks like a relatively mild and dry week,” Strickler said.

If you’re thinking that it’s a little early for temperatures in the 40s, you’re not wrong.

This time of the year, Strickler said, Raleigh usually sees daytime highs in the lower 70s and overnight lows in the 50s.

But that doesn’t mean even lower temperatures now are unusual.

“It’s the fall, and it’s a transition month, and we do typically see these pretty significant changes in air masses and associated temperatures,” Strickler said.

“This is not atypical at all, it’s pretty much par for the course for us and for North Carolina,” he said.