Abrupt Spring: Weird Summer Heat Spreading Across Much Of The U.S. Way Too Early. Severe Weather, Too!

We didn't see forecast maps like this much during the
winter. High chances of well above normal 
temperatures in the East between March 8-12

The heat of winter in the United States are continuing into a new month as blowtorch record highs out west threaten to head east.   

Record high temperatures really began to take hold of portions of the United States in the past few days. While the West roasted, much of the rest still shivered. For the first couple of days in March, anyway.  

Believe it or not, meteorological winter, the period from December 1 to February 28, was the second warmest on record in the U.S.

People in the northeastern United States would beg to differ. But the colder than average weather in the Northeast was far outdone by the bonkers warmth across the western U.S.

SOUTHWESTERN BLOWTORCH

Many of the records that have already been set are pretty alarming. 

In the final days of meteorological winter, on Thursday, February 26, preliminary data shows that the temperature reached 106 at Falcon Dam, Falcon Reservoir, Texas. That's right on the Mexican border about halfway between Laredo and McAllen, Texas. 

If that temperature is verified, that would be the hottest temperature on record anywhere in the United States in February and in meteorological winter. The normal high temperatures this time of year at Falcon Dam is in the mid to upper 70s. 

The previous mark for hottest U.S. temperature rwas 104 degrees.

California and Arizona joined the chat on Friday. Ocotillo Wells, California reached 101 degrees, which sets a new mark for hottest February day on record for anywhere in California.

Meanwhile, Tacna, Arizona reached 100 degrees Friday, which is the hottest winter day anywhere in that state. Phoenix, Arizona hit a high of 92 on Friday, tying the record for hottest February temperature. It was the first 90 degree reading of the year. That milestone usually comes in late March, a month later than it did. 

Then it reached 92 degrees again in Phoenix Saturday. Then it hit 93 on Sunday. Another record high.  

Those temperatures shattered what became by far the hottest meteorological winter on record in Phoenix, with a mean temperature of 64 degrees. The old record was 61.3 degrees, set just last year in the winter of 2024-25.

Phoenix has had some alarmingly hot, consistently record breaking heat over the past two years, so this trend is troubling. 

Record highs included downtown Los Angeles at 91 degrees, Woodland Hills, 92 degrees and Burbank, 90 degrees. At a higher elevation, Big Bear had a record high of 70 degrees. 

HEAT MOVES EAST

Now, for something different. For the first time since early winter, the record western  heat in the US is heading east. 

It started in the Rocky Mountains, which also had a warm winter. 

Over in Colorado, Denver just had its second warmest winter on record, and the most days of 60 degrees or more in meteorological winter, with a total of 41. 

Up in Montana, the warm dry winter continued right through February and into March.  A wildfire erupted in late February near Butte. State fire officials said it was unheard of to see a fire this time of year on a north facing slope at an elevation above 6,000 feet. There should have been snow on the ground. 

By the end of this week, the heat will have spread to much of the central and eastern United States. There will be dozens, or more likely hundreds of record highs through the rest of the week and into the weekend. .

For example, by Friday, places like Tennessee will be in the low 80s, which will threaten record high temperatures. 

Oxford, Mississippi, hardest hit by the destructive ice storm back in late January, is expecting daily highs in the mid 70s to low 80s today through at least next Monday. 

Charlotte, North Carolina is expecting near record highs in the low 80s by Friday. 

Washington DC had nearly an inch of new snow yesterday as temperatures held in the 30s all day. Daily high temperatures there Thursday through next Monday are likely to be in the 70s.  

It's still unclear how warm it'll get here in New England and how long it will last, but we should see at least a few warmer than normal days. With a lot of snow lingering on the ground near the Great Lakes and in New England, ice jams and flooding are possible. 

SEVERE WEATHER

The real dangerous weather, though, looks like it will set up in parts of the Plains and Midwest over the next several days. 

South winds that are helping to move the heat into the United States are now starting to pull deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and that trend will continue to intensify. It'll be downright humid in much of the central and southeastern U.S. the rest of the week.

With storms moving across the north central United States and cold air lurking to the north, this is a classic set up for severe weather, tornadoes and flooding. 

It'll start up this afternoon in a small way across Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. It looks like the risk of severe will increase tomorrow around northeastern Texas, and parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas. More severe weather is expected in Texas Thursday.

Friday looks like a particularly dangerous day from Texas all the way up to Iowa. It's looking like there could be quite a few tornadoes. This could be first major severe weather outbreak of the season. 

 

No Autumn Out West: Unprecedented October Heat Baking Region

The extreme autumn heat in Phoenix, Arizona has 
shocked even seasoned meteorologists and 
climatologists. Almost the entire West is in
the throes of an unprecedented October heat wave.

 An incredible late season heat wave is baking large swaths of the United States west, continuing a never-ending summer that shows no signs of ending. 

More than 200 weather stations set records for the hottest temperature on record for October.  

More than 2,000 weather stations in the West set daily high temperatures records in just the first three days of October. 

Climate change has made extreme record heat more likely, and now this heat is spilling into seasons other than summer. 

This heat wave is even more off the charts than almost all other strange hot spells various parts of the world have suffered in this warming world. 

PHOENIX MISERY

While the entire West is embroiled in extreme October heat, Phoenix, Arizona, which had its hottest, most miserable summer on record, is now enduring previously unimaginable October heat:

 The records being broken in Phoenix are absolutely insane as their equally insane summer continues unabated well into autumn. 

Here's the Washington Post to fill us in on what's been going on in Phoenix.

"Phoenix also set an October record Tuesday, with a high of 113 degrees. That record was established only four days after reaching a September record of 117 on Saturday. The high of 113 demolished its previous calendar day and months records by six degrees."

Additionally, an unprecedented 113 consecutive days in which temperatures reached 100 or more in Phoenix ended on September 17.  Residents there probably thought that autumn had arrived, as by their standards, each day from September 17 to 22 failed to reach 100 degrees. 

So much for that idea. Each day since September 23 has been at least 105 in Phoenix, and six of those reached at least 110 degrees.  

"Temperatures reaching 110 this late in the year is pretty  unfathomable at this point, given the lowering sun angle, length of day, and considering the previous latest 110+ on record was September 19, two weeks ago," the National Weather Service in Phoenix wrote. 

On Thursday, Phoenix endured an unprecedented tenth day in a row with record high temperatures. The record for consecutive days of record temperatures for any U.S. city was 14 in Burlington, Iowa on July 4-17, 1936  during the Dust Bowl heat waves of the 1930s, reports climatologist Brian Brettschneider. 

 Phoenix could well see at least four more days of record highs

 Each day in Phoenix through next Monday is forecast to be at least 106 degrees, and each day through at least next Thursday should be at least 100 degrees. 

The normal high in Phoenix this time of year is around 94 degrees

UNPRECEDENTED HEAT EXPANDS

It's not just Phoenix due for many more days of weird autumn heat.

Palm Springs, California reached 117 degrees Tuesday, breaking the record for hottest October there, and tying the record for hottest October day anywhere in the United States.

It was the 15th time this year that Palm Springs reached 117, another record. And, Palm Springs set its all time record high of 124 back on July 5

Other cities setting all-time records for October are Death Valley, 114 degrees; Yuma, Arizona, 113 degrees; 112 in Blythe and Needles, California; 107 in Van Nuys, California, and 105 degrees in Tucson, Arizona and Fresno, California, 103 in Sacramento, 89 in Grand Junction, Colorado and 85 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

In all, 230 weather stations in the West hit all time highs for the entire month of October in just the opening three days of the month. 

. Heat warnings and advisories extend northward through California past San Francisco and Sacramento.

The dry air mass has prompted wild fire alerts in a vast area of the West, stretching from California to South Dakota.

The hot, dry, windy weather has revived some existing wildfires in California that had been temporarily tamped down by a spell of somewhat cooler, slightly more humid air last week. 

Much above normal temperatures, occasionally record warmth, should continue in the western half of the United States through mid-month 

VERMONT EFFECTS

Here in Vermont, temperatures have not reached record levels, but we have still been oddly and persistently warm.  

Friday was the eighth consecutive day in Burlington with highs in the 70s, which is quite unusual for this time of year. Much more odd is the string of warm nights, at least by autumnal standards. Friday was the 23rd day in a row in Burlington in which the low temperature stayed above 50 degrees.

The warm streak here is showing signs of ending.

 The heat dome causing the western hot weather will if anything strengthen and expand, That'll create a corresponding dip in the jet stream over the eastern United States. 

The process has started. The forecast low in Burlington Sunday morning is 43 degrees, which isn't the least bit unusual for this time of year but would still be the coolest morning since April 27.  That in itself is odd, because it has frequently been cooler than 43 degrees every month of the year, including July and August. So we've had a really weird run of balminess in Vermont. 

The chill will intensify next week when highs Tuesday through Friday should stay in the 50s across Vermont. Again, those temperatures are pretty run of the mill for October, but it'll feel weird in this hot year of 2024.