Southeastern US to experience record-challenging warmth into Friday
Warmer weather has caused ice jams on the Kankakee River in Illinois. Residents are worried about possible flooding after the extreme cold.
The weather will feel like springtime in the southeastern United States as temperatures are forecast to surge into the 60s, 70s and lower 80s much of the rest of this week.
Following a major Arctic outbreak from last week with record cold conditions in parts of the central and eastern U.S., a rebound of nearly equal magnitude is not unheard of.
A dramatic northward shift in the jet stream, combined with the circulation around a building area of high pressure off the southern Atlantic coast will allow temperatures to climb to levels more typical of April from the Gulf coast to the southern Appalachians and part of the mid-Atlantic region.
Average highs this time of the year range from the upper 40s F in Virginia to the middle 60s F along the upper Gulf coast.
The weather will allow many people to shed winter coats and wear shorts and short sleeves for a few days.
The storm over the western Atlantic responsible for clouds, wind and rain along part of the Carolina coast has moved away.
Despite areas of showers and strong thunderstorms farther west over the Mississippi Valley, warmth will prevail on Thursday.
Motorists and airline passengers may experience some delays related to patchy dense fog during the morning hours.
In some cases, records that will be challenged date back to the early 1900s and late 1800s, just like on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Nashville and Washington, D.C. are two of the many cities that set a new record high on Tuesday.
However, the record warmth will not persist into the weekend. A potent storm responsible for snow down to sea level from Washington to California will slice northeastward across the Midwest later this week.
The circulation around that storm combined with a southward plunge in the jet stream will send colder air to the Gulf coast and across the Appalachians on Friday.
Record-challenging warmth will hold on the immediate Atlantic coast on Friday, before colder air arrives Friday night and Saturday.
Temperatures are forecast to be slashed by 20-30 degrees on average this weekend.
While the return to cold weather will be a shock, it will be much less extreme. Temperatures will be 10-20 degrees higher when compared to that of the middle to latter part of last week.
Unlike last week, the polar vortex will not plunge southward toward the Great Lakes region. Instead, the vortex is forecast to remain much farther north near Canada's Hudson Bay.
Download the free AccuWeather app to see how warm it will get in your area.
