Earliest chill in 6 years ... enjoy it

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The temperature in Charlotte is expected to drop into the middle 40s tonight, and you have to go back six eight years to find readings that chilly so early in the season.

Monday morning was our coolest so far in September, with a low of 50 degrees at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. It got a lot colder elsewhere in the region, including 37 degrees at Boone. There were a few reports of light frost Monday morning in the higher elevations.

Other chilly lows Monday included 37 degrees at Morganton; 43 degrees in Salisbury; 45 degrees in Hickory; 46 degrees in Concord, Rutherfordton and Statesville; and 48 degrees in Albemarle.

Forecasters say Piedmont locations can figure on subtracting another 3 or 4 degrees from those lows Tuesday morning, as the center of a strong high pressure system moves closer to our area. The Piedmont is probably safe from widespread frost, but if you live in a low-lying area that typically gets frost before anyone else, you might want to protect the plants tonight.

Our last reading in the 40s was May 11, when it dropped to 48 degrees.

And the last time it dropped into the 40s this early in the year was 2006, when we had a low of 47 degrees on Sept. 21. Otherwise, the date of the first low in the 40s was about a week later -- Oct. 11 in 2007; Oct. 2 in 2008; Sept. 29 in 2009; Oct. 2 in 2010; and Oct. 1 last year.

Our daytime temperatures Monday are rather chilly, too. The forecast high is 73 degrees, and it's been since June 6 since we had an afternoon that cool.

Nice local weather site: Chris Mullis notes that it dropped to 50.4 degrees Monday morning in Mint Hill, the coldest at his weather station so far this season. It also reached 50 at my station in Matthews.

By the way, Mullis operates a nice website -- www.minthillweather.com -- with all the statistics and hourly reports, a webcam, forecasts, and more.  He's also on Facebook (facebook.com/minthillweather) with forecasts, current conditions and alerts; and on Twitter (twitter.com/minthillweather) with hourly conditions and alerts.

This cool-down won't last long. High temperatures will return to the 80s by Wednesday, and we could be in the upper 80s by Thursday or Friday.