Cool weather is indeed coming to the city – just a little too early for Christmas.

The area has experienced humid, warm air in recent days, resulting in foggy mornings and unseasonably warm afternoons.

But a series of cold fronts later this week will cause temperatures to plummet Saturday, although the cooler weather will likely be the last cold snap before the holidays next week in Tampa Bay.

A cooler airflow Thursday pushed out much of the moist air, and a second, “strengthening front” late Friday will send temperatures dropping to the low 60s during the day on Saturday and the mid-40s at night, meteorologist Ali Davis said the National Weather Service office in Tampa Bay.

“A lot more of a vacation feel,” Davis said of the cold weather.

Saturday is expected to be the coolest day of the cold front.

A forecast from the weather service indicated that much of the region would struggle to reach the 60-degree mark that day, while overnight temperatures were likely to remain in the mid to low 40s.

Temperatures will rise through Sunday and highs are expected to be in the mid to upper 70s by Christmas Eve on Tuesday. The following day, Christmas and the first day of Hanukkah, daytime temperatures will remain the same.

“That’s actually just maybe a few degrees above average for this time of year,” Davis said. “So it will be cooler than earlier this week, but still above average.”

Davis said the weather service is not expecting any rain or fog for the next few days. There is a small chance of some splashing after Wednesday, she said.

While temperatures tend to be in the 70s this time of year, Tampa Bay had some cold Christmas days.

In 2022, temperatures fell below freezing on Christmas, resulting in Tampa Bay’s coldest holiday in over 30 years.

The trophy for coldest Christmas in Tampa Bay remains 1983, when pipes burst, oranges froze solid and power outages caused chaos across Tampa Bay.

Next week’s holiday will likely be a picture of Christmas in Florida, sunny and Only a little too warm for a sweater.