Springlike warmth to challenge records across eastern US into Wednesday
It will feel more like spring across part of the eastern United States for a time this week as temperatures briefly soar to record-challenging levels.
Residents from Atlanta to Nashville to Washington, D.C., will trade in winter coats for short sleeves during Tuesday and Wednesday.
A storm with snow and ice on its northern flank will travel across the northern tier of the nation during the first part of the week. Unseasonable warmth will then build on the southeastern side of the storm.
“Even though Punxsutawney Phil called for six more weeks of winter, to many in the Southeast it will feel more like mid-April than early February for a brief period this week,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Faith Eherts said.
Records that have held since the 1900s could be in jeopardy throughout the Southeast.
“Throughout Maryland and Virginia, high temperatures on Tuesday will reach upwards of 20 degrees above average,” Eherts said. “Farther south, they may reach 25 degrees above average.”
Widespread highs in the middle to upper 70s F are in store across the Deep South, with middle to upper 60s in store for much of the Ohio Valley and part of the mid-Atlantic.
Temperatures will soar into the 60s as far north as New York City.
A few of the cities that will challenge record warmth include New Orleans; Montgomery, Alabama; Atlanta; Jacksonville and Pensacola, Florida; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; Nashville; and Washington, D.C.
The bulk of the warmth will fail to reach northern New England, where snow and ice will occur.
Warmth will be whisked away and temperatures will fall back to within a few degrees of average across the Central states on Wednesday and then the Eastern states on Thursday.
The brunt of the chill will be felt in the Midwest. However, a storm will coincide with the push of cold air in the Northeast, where a swath of heavy, accumulating snow is in store by Thursday.
Temperatures may rebound once again across the Midwest and parts of the East as soon as this weekend.
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