ATLANTA (AP) — Temperatures plummeted overnight to 2 degrees in the north Georgia mountains, 14 in Atlanta and 26 as far south as New Orleans as the Gulf Coast felt more like Green Bay.

In Mississippi, a low of 15 degrees early Tuesday tied the record low for the date, which was set in 1979.

In Alabama, overnight lows dropped to 8 degrees near Cullman and 20 degrees in Mobile.

Georgia saw one of its coldest temperatures of the winter: 2 degrees shortly before dawn Tuesday at a U.S. Forest Service weather station at Toccoa, Georgia.

Along the Georgia coast, the National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a winter storm watch as a low-pressure system in the Atlantic Ocean could bring ice and freezing rain to the area late Tuesday night and Wednesday.