99 5.9L Durango Over-heating in winter

Currently I am in Connecticut and our weather is slightly getting below the
40* mark every morning and night, so the Durango being an all steel vehicle,
obviously gets freezing cold. I am having a problem (where I think) if I do not
let it 'properly' warm up, it begins to over-heat.. I was driving to work today
and noticed my temp gauge went up a tad bit, then immediately went back
down to like if it hasn't been started. I kept driving for a bit then noticed that
the temp gauge went all the way up to the red line, theoretically
'overheating'. I turned the car off for ten seconds, turned it back on, it went
back down to normal temps the whole rest of the drive (about another 15
minutes of driving) - Any ideas on what the issue could be? Maybe a freak
issue? Or are we looking at some mechanical issues? Thanks everyone!