Record warmth to rebound across central US
It will feel more like May rather than late February across the central United States in the coming days with temperatures once again approaching record levels across the region next week.
In many areas, milder winter weather has caused fewer insects to die from freezing temperatures.
Springlike temperatures will spread across the Plains into next week, AccuWeather meteorologists say. There is the potential for widespread record warmth over a several-day period during the last days of the month.
An area of high pressure just offshore in the Gulf of Mexico helped usher in the first surge of warm air across the southern Plains through Wednesday. Temperatures which typically top out in the 50s and 60s in mid- to late February, soared in the 70s and 80s across the region Wednesday.
Across the Texas Panhandle, some records were broken on Wednesday, including in Lubbock and Amarillo. The temperature reached 85 degrees Fahrenheit in Lubbock, breaking the record from 1996. In Amarillo, the old record of 81 degrees, also set in 1996, was broken by 2 degrees.
This first surge of warmth came to an end as a cold front moved through the region on Thursday. High temperatures will trend 10-20 degrees lower across much of the South Central states on Friday.
The only exception is southern Texas where daytime highs in the 70s and 80s will persist to end the week.
A more widespread warmup will begin to build over the weekend and will build into the start of next week for much of the Plains and the Mississippi Valley. Many locations including Fargo, North Dakota, and Minneapolis, for example, are expected to top out into the 50s to near 60 on Monday.
Monday is expected to be the warmest day of this stretch for the northern Plains with temperatures 15-30 degrees above historical averages across the region. Temperatures in Dallas are expected to climb into the upper 80s which is more common in May.
There will be several Great Plains cities on record watch across the Plains as the warmth grips the region. Locations including Des Moines, Iowa; Dodge City, Kansas; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota; are forecast to top out in the 60s and 70s which can come close or break daily records.
Many cities have the potential to set new daily record highs, as well as records for warmest nights from Monday to Wednesday, as the core of the May-like conditions shifts slowly from the Central states to the East. On Wednesday, records may also be challenged from Maine to the Carolinas.
While many will enjoy the prolonged warmth into early next week, there is a downside to the widespread warmth across the Plains. AccuWeather forecasters warn that the warmth combined with moist air surging into the region can be enough to spark severe weather from the central and southern Plains into the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys. People are urged to check AccuWeather often for updates on the potential for a severe weather outbreak next week.
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