What an April Heat Wave; Mountains Win With 90

When I saw the thermometer reading yesterday at my house I thought it must have been mistaken: 86 degrees? Some forecasts were for the mid-70s! The computer forecast models had underestimated the effect of the strong southerly winds which pulled hot air into the Appalachians.

Penn State University in State College, Pa., rose to 84 degrees, breaking the daily record from 1941. It has only been warmer than 84 degrees four times this early in the year (Jan. 1 - April 13) in history. The reading of 84 is 2 degrees above the normal high at the peak of summer (82 in late July)! You can read more about our local readings here in Centre County on the Centre County Mesonet blog.

Elkins, W.Va., set a new record high of 85 for the day yesterday, but nearby Petersburg (where climatological records are not kept) it hit 90 degrees. It was also 90 in Cumberland, Md. These were the top high temperatures recorded yesterday in the mid-Atlantic; it was cooler in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Record highs were also set in Bluefield and Lewisburg, W.Va.

Even in Elmira, N.Y., it got up to 84 -- but did not set a daily record. The same in Williamsport, Pa., where it was 82. In some parts of Pennsylvania, it was 81-87 degrees and there was still some ice and snow leftover from the winter, and of course Lake Erie still had plenty of ice (satellite image from Saturday).