VALDOSTA — From one extreme to another: Following the coldest nights of the season, forecasters say Valdosta can expect highs near 80 by the end of the week.

A major storm system that blanketed much of the South with snow during the weekend didn’t blanket Lowndes County with the white stuff, but did send overnight temperatures plunging. The city’s low Saturday night was 22, said Ricardo Humphries, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Tallahassee, Fla., office.

Temperatures Sunday weren’t expected to be much better, with a projected high of 42 and a low of 25, said Frank Strait, senior meteorologist for the private forecasting firm AccuWeather.

As a high-pressure system moves out of South Georgia in the next few days, warmer air from the south should start moving in, he said.

By Tuesday, highs in Lowndes County should be about 74, Strait said.

“That’s a pretty good jump,” Humphries said.

A lack of cold fronts and a new high-pressure system building by the end of the week should keep major storm systems away from South Georgia, Strait said.

He put the odds of rain in the region at virtually none early in the week and not very strong later. Severe weather is unlikely, Strait said.

High temperatures in Valdosta should reach 80 degrees by Saturday, he said.

Terry Richards is senior reporterr at The Valdosta Daily Times.