Warmer temperatures and rain on the way

Tomorrow: Increasing clouds. High: 57

For a detailed forecast, visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weather page.

Despite sub-freezing temperatures Saturday morning, metro Atlanta got warmer by the afternoon.

About 5 p.m., the temperature was 52 degrees.

That’s closing in on the expected high of 55, slightly above average for this date.

But temperatures were more like winter in the pre-dawn hours.

“For some of us, (it’s) the coldest it has been all winter long,” Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said.

The warming trend should continue through Sunday, when the high is expected to be 57. It should still be cool Saturday night, when the mercury should be in the 30s by 11 p.m.

Get ready for rain, too. “It’s going to be a lot wetter across North Georgia,” Monahan said.

There’s a 30 percent chance of rain Sunday afternoon, increasing to 40 percent Monday.

Winter? It officially begins near midday Thursday.