Colder-than-average temperatures have settled across the eastern half of the U.S., prompting the National Weather Service to issue freeze alerts for more than 50 million Americans through Monday morning.
And while temperatures will rebound later this week, the cold temperatures could be dangerous to unprotected vegetation that has recently sprouted up due to the above-average temperatures many cities saw in February.
Freeze Warnings are in effect across the southern U.S., impacting major cities such as Little Rock in Arkansas, Baton Rouge in Louisiana, Jackson in Mississippi, Mobile and Montgomery in Alabama, Nashville and Memphis in Tennessee, Atlanta and Charlotte in North Carolina.
Freeze Watches have been posted for areas of southern South Carolina and east-central Georgia.
HOW WARM WILL SPRING BE? NOAA SEASONAL OUTLOOK SHOWS WHO CAN PACK UP THOSE WINTER COATS
Temperatures will drop into the 20s across many areas of the South on Monday morning.
While cities from Little Rock to Jackson, Atlanta and Charlotte will see low temperatures in the upper 20s, farther north will be much colder.
Nashville, for example, could dip to about 20 degrees by the time we start the workweek on Monday.
Record-low temperatures are also in jeopardy on Monday morning. Mobile, for example, could see a morning low temperature of 29 degrees, which would break its old record of 30, which was set back in 1923.
WHEN IS THE LAST FREEZE IN MY AREA?
Warmer temperatures are in store starting on Tuesday, with much of the region seeing above-average temperatures toward the middle of the week.
By the time we get to Thursday, temperatures could be running 10 to 20 degrees warmer than average across the central and eastern U.S.
WHAT SEASON DO FRUITS AND VEGETABLES GROW IN?
On Monday, high temperatures will reach into the mid- to upper 50s in the Southeast, with the Northeast seeing high temperatures in the lower to mid-50s in places like New York City.
Temperatures will be much warmer across a wide area of the U.S. starting on Tuesday.
The Southeast can expect high temperatures in the mid- to upper 60s, with the Northeast seeing high temperatures in the lower 60s.
And then on Wednesday, warmer temperatures will reach farther north. Temperatures will range from the upper 70s and lower 80s in Florida, along the Gulf Coast and in the southern Plains.
In the mid-Atlantic, places like Norfolk in Virginia will see high temperatures in the lower to mid-60s. Temperatures in the mid-50s can be expected in the Northeast and portions of New England.