A southern spring scorcher will make it feel more like summer
Across the South, it is going to feel more like the first week of summer instead of the first full week of spring, Thursday and Friday.
“More than three dozen record highs are expected today from Texas to Florida as heat builds across the South,” CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.
Weather models show a possible of 115 record highs over the next five days.
This record heat is all thanks to a ridge in the jet stream that has built in for much of the southern US, says CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
NOAA forecast an above average spring for most he US >>>
High temperatures will rise near 100 degrees Fahrenheit across parts of West Texas and the Texas Panhandle Thursday.
In Oklahoma, the high temperatures will surge into the 90s.
Cities like Dallas, Houston, Little Rock, New Orleans and Mobile could all see daily records in the 80s Thursday.
Friday, the record heat will spread east, covering the Southeast with dozens of records again, says Hennen.
“Atlanta and Montgomery, Alabama, will feel more like mid-June the next few days rather than the end of March,” says Chinchar.
Florida will bake in a record-setting 90 degree day.
This record heat will continue through the weekend along the Southeast coast and Florida.
“It is clear that spring has firmly sprung,” CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller said.
Places like “Atlanta will not drop down to freezing again this season.”
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This means Atlanta officially only dropped below freezing — where the temperature drops to 32 degrees Fahrenheit or lower — on 13 days. The average number for Atlanta is 42 days.
Since 1940, we are averaging more than a dozen fewer days, dropping below freezing, says Miller.
Atlanta is not alone; much of the East stayed above average this winter.
This means that much of the spring foliage across the US is already starting to appear.
“Our warming climate is causing spring to arrive earlier across much of the US,” according to Climate Central. In an analysis of spring foliage, they found that spring ‘leaf out’ is happening earlier in 76% (181) of the 239 cities analyzed, compared to 1981.
