Attention, holiday shoppers. It's getting colder!

Timing can be everything in weather.

The folks who stood in line outside stores early this morning for those Black Friday specials caught a break. A strong cold front didn't cross the Charlotte area until about 7 a.m., several hours after the stores opened.

By that time, shoppers were inside. If the front had been earlier, the people in line would've gotten a drenching, as the front was accompanied by a band of heavy showers.

The early shoppers caught another break. Temperatures were near 65 degrees at 4 a.m., but the front dropped those readings 10 degrees in an hour, and we can look for the thermometer to keep falling during the day.

The heaviest of the rain has moved to the east, but we can expect a few showers until late afternoon. Meanwhile, temperatures probably will stay in the mid 50s for a few more hours but will fall into the upper 40s by late afternoon.

So if you have shopping plans later today, take an umbrella and a jacket.

And if you're heading out to a high school football playoff game tonight, count on a cold night, with a northwest breeze that will be strong enough to make conditions seem even chillier.

This cold front is a serious character. Nashville was basking in 70-degree weather at 5 p.m. Thursday. Nine hours later, at 2 a.m., it was 35 degrees, with light snow falling.

We won't see snow in the Carolinas today, but temperatures will be in the lower 30s Saturday morning and in the upper 20s Sunday morning.

After a brief warm-up Tuesday, another strong front is forecast to move through the area, bringing even colder air. Despite sunshine, our high temperatures next Thursday and Friday might not get out of the upper 40s.

By the way, a deep storm system over southern Canada and the colder air will produce the first significant lake-effect snow outbreak of the season in the Great Lakes. A west-northwest wind off lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario will dump 1 to 2 feet of snow in parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (from Lake Superior); western lower Michigan (from Lake Michigan); southwest Ontario (from Lake Huron); the Buffalo area and northwest Pennsylvania (from Lake Erie); and upstate New York (from Lake Ontario).

Snow won't be a problem for the Panthers' game at the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. It will be cold (near 40 degrees) but sunny.