ROCKVILLE, Md. (CBSDC) — The calendar says it’s late January, but it felt like mid-May on Tuesday.

After a cold spell kept temperatures below freezing for much of last week, the mercury reached into the 60s in the D.C. area on Tuesday.

Many people took advantage of the unseasonably warm conditions by ditching their winter coat for a short-sleeved shirt. Jemel El-Homri, a student at the University of Maryland, sported just a flannel shirt and jeans as he sipped coffee outside a shop along Rockville Pike while soaking up some sun.

“It’s a total shock coming from the 20s,” El-Homri said. “It’s strange, but it’s happened before.”

The warm weather is expected to last through Wednesday, although cloudier skies and a chance of precipitation are in the forecast. The cold air will return Thursday and stick around through the weekend.

For El-Homri, that’s OK as long as there’s some sunshine.

“I don’t mind cold weather as long as it’s sunny outside,” he said. “It’s really the gray sky that has an affect on me.”

WNEW’s George Mesthos contributed to this report. Follow him on Twitter.

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