Austin residents reached an annual milestone this week, perhaps sooner than expected: the start of the heating season.

The low temperature dipped to 37 degrees on Wednesday morning and 40 degrees this morning, according to the National Weather Service in La Crosse.

“Over the weekend we had a cold front sweep across the area,” NWS meteorologist Dan Jones said.

That comes after near record highs last week, as the temperature hit 91 degrees on Sept. 12. Jones attributes the temperature swings to the dry weather.

“We’re at the time of year where things start to dry out,” Jones said. “It can warm up easily into the 70s, and drop down around 40.” The NWS projects temperatures to range from a high of 61 and a low of 39 on Friday, then 55 to 33 on Saturday with a chance of Sunday morning frost, and a high of 58 and low of 39 on Sunday. There’s a 30 percent chance of rain tonight and Friday, and a 50 percent chance of rain Friday night and early Saturday.