Standing water from Saturday's rain filling up on East Locust Avenue in Tyler. (Jennifer Scott/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Saturday’s severe storms gave way to a brief warm-up in East Texas before chilly temperatures are expected to come in January.

This time of year is usually quieter for severe weather but Saturday had East Texas on alert. A tornado watch was issued for parts of deep East Texas until 3 p.m. Saturday, with another watch extending until 5 p.m. for areas farther west. Additionally, a severe thunderstorm watch was in effect until noon.

“We’ve had a pretty good line of thunderstorms that moved through north of Interstate 20 during the morning hours,” said CBS19 Chief Meteorologist Brett Anthony. “All of this is pretty much expected and started showing up in the data several days ago.”

Strong winds were indicated on the radar around Gilmer and Ore City of a magnitude of 65 to 70 mph winds in those areas. Threats of a small tornado or isolated tornado over parts of deep Texas were possible Saturday evening.

Looking ahead, next week will bring mild temperatures in the 70s before cooling off into winter weather.

“We have a front coming in but there’s not much moisture with it likely to pass dry,” he said. “But it does cool off into the 60s then we drop into the 30s… then everything kind of levels off.”

By Jan. 8 or Jan. 9, East Texas could see temperatures dip into the mid-teens.

“We’re going to have a pretty good surge of colder air,” Anthony said. “Probably the oldest air we’ll see all winter move into the area. Once we get closer, we’ll know if there’s any sort of ice or snow coming with that. Sometimes when it does get cold, you could have some freezing drizzle or freezing rain or something like that set up.”

Anthony said starting early next week through Jan. 17, East Texas could see some of the coldest temperatures of the year, with potential highs averaging around 57 degrees and lows near 37.

“To be down to around 17 degrees at any point during that period is 20 degrees below average, so that is abnormally cold,” he added.

Temperatures have been near average recently, with some warmer days in the 70s, particularly around Christmas. Rainfall levels are above average for both the month and the year. With the addition of Saturday’s rain, Tyler and Longview are expected to finish the year with above-average rainfall.

“We’re not coming close to any type of records in terms of warmth or cold, but it’s unusual to have highs in the 70s and certainly three severe weather setups in a week,” Anthony said.

The warmest December temperature on record is 84 degrees, which occurred on Dec. 1, 1906, and Dec. 8, 1956. The coldest December temperature was 0°F, recorded on Dec. 23, 1989. For rainfall, the heaviest single-day total in December was over 5 inches, which fell on Dec. 27, 2015.