A chilly Tuesday on tap for the Tampa Bay area

ST. PETERSBURG -- Temperatures will rise only into the upper 50s and low 60s by Tuesday afternoon.

Low temperatures will be in the upper 30s to low 40s in the Bay area. Citrus and Hernando counties will drop to the low 30s tonight and a freeze watch is in effect there from late tonight through Wednesday morning.

Skies will be partly sunny to mostly sunny today.

There could also be patchy frost late tonight and tomorrow morning.

These are the coldest temperatures in Tampa since February 2015.

High pressure over the southeast and north Florida will be the dominant weather feature as it drifts toward the east. There will be partly sunny skies Wednesday then becoming mostly cloudy on Thursday.

Temperatures will be below normal on Wednesday with highs in the mid 60s.

Thursday afternoon will be a little warmer with highs in the upper 60s.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 7:00 AM with the headline "A chilly Tuesday on tap for the Tampa Bay area ."