Temperatures to top 80 degrees in South as above-normal warmth grips region
As a cross-country winter storm brings snow, ice and cold air from the Midwest to New England through the end of the week, record-challenging heat will build in the southern portions of the country.
Instead of cold and snow, millions of residents in the South are likely to experience warmth that is well above the historical average, according to AccuWeather forecasters. In what has already been a mild winter for some, many locations will soon have weather that is more typical of May or June than February.
"A southerly breeze will usher warm air across the southern United States through Thursday, allowing temperatures to rise into the 80s, making residents in places like Atlanta wonder if it is early summer rather than late winter," AccuWeather Meteorologist Haley Taylor explained.
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When Arctic air is displaced and moves south in one area, warm, tropical air is ushered north in another area. In this case, the warm air has expanded in the southeastern U.S.
This weather phenomenon is precisely the culprit for the warmup taking place across the Southeast. Daily high-temperature records will be broken in many places through Thursday, including Atlanta, Nashville and the Carolinas.
Nashville's long-standing daily record on Wednesday of 74 degrees Fahrenheit, reached in 1897, was smashed as the mercury rose to 80 F.
Temperatures will rise at bit more on Thursday, making the weather feel more like early summer than winter. Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, are both set to surge well into the 80s during the afternoon, which would easily break the daily record highs in both cities. The record high in both cities for Feb. 23 is 79 F.
The forecast high temperatures for Thursday in Raleigh and Charlotte are expected to max out in the 80s. Should this occur, both cities would set establish new monthly record highs for February.
Temperatures in the 80s will also extend well southward into the Florida Peninsula. Even in Florida, this week's weather will be more reminiscent of early summer rather than late February, as cities such as Orlando (high of 87 F), Miami (high of 84 F) and Jacksonville (high of 87 F) were just shy of the 90-degree Fahrenheit mark Wednesday, with another scorcher forecasted for Thursday.
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In cities farther north such as Richmond, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., there will be quite a contrast between Wednesday and Thursday with a 24-hour temperature change of 20-30 degrees.
The high temperature in the nation's capital on Wednesday was 54 F, while the mercury is set to reach the low 80s there by Thursday afternoon. AccuWeather forecasters expect the city to break its long-standing record high for Feb. 23 of 78 F, a record established back in 1874.
Conditions are forecast to come back closer to their historical averages for this time of year by the weekend in the Southeast, but temperatures will remain above average through the rest of February and into at least early March.
"The summerlike heat is expected to come to an end Friday as a front passes through the region, causing temperatures to drop 20-30 degrees in the 24-hour period," Taylor said.
For example, in Richmond, Virginia, high temperatures will trend downward by 20 degrees from the low 80s on Thursday to the low 60s on Friday and then by nearly 20 additional degrees to the mid-40s on Saturday.
As is often the case in the second half of winter and into spring, these major temperature swings are set to continue for much of the country.
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