Unseasonable Warmth Spreads Across Central U.S.

The temperature roller coaster ride has been in full swing across the central U.S. over the past several days as a wave of unseasonable warmth spread across the region. As of today, Monday, November 17, temperatures across the Plains, Midwest, and Southeast continue to run well above normal, extending a stretch of weather that has felt far more like early fall than mid-November.

Potential Record-Challenging Warmth Spreading Across the Central U.S.

While the northeastern U.S. dealt with cold and the West Coast grappled with heavy rain and snow late last week, the nation’s heartland warmed dramatically. Across a roughly 1.5-million-square-mile stretch of the country, temperatures have hovered 10 to 25 degrees above average. Sunshine has made it feel even warmer at times.

This warmth surged northward as a bulge in the jet stream blocked colder air from dipping south. That ridge extended from the Front Range through the Plains, the Mississippi Valley, and into the Southeast. Some daily high records were challenged—and in a few areas, broken—on Friday and Saturday as the mercury climbed to levels more typical of September.

Widespread highs in the 80s unfolded across the southern Plains on Saturday, while the northern Plains and Upper Midwest saw peak readings Friday, with temperatures soaring into the 60s and low 70s.