After two weeks of warmer weather, the winter cold is returning this week.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham forecasts that temperatures could drop below freezing Wednesday and Thursday nights.

“It looks like it will be right down to that line around 32 degrees or even a little bit lower,” said Daniel Martin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Although the weather has been warm recently, Martin said the winter season is far from over.

“It certainly looks like in the near future we are leaning toward reaching that colder trend again, even though we did have a bit of a warmup over the last few days,” Martin said.

Martin said the warm weather has been due to systems moving up from the Gulf.

“When they move in from the gulf they bring in that warmer air,” Martin said. “The winds moving up from the south bring the warmer temperatures here. But systems are now going to be moving out of the north and bringing cold fronts through.”

With the weather near or below freezing, Martin said there are some precautionary steps people need to take.

“Certainly if you have pets outside you don’t want to leave them out in the freezing temps and if you have any exposed pipes, cover them up,” Martin said. “Those are really the main concerns.”