Mar 16, 2012; 10:10 AM ET
Friday, 11:25 a.m.
Another batch of record high temperatures fell by the proverbial wayside on Thursday, and a lot more will be wiped out today. And tomorrow. And Sunday. And Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. And probably longer. I have never in all my years of forecasting the weather seen a run of warmth this strong for this long. Not even close! It is a pattern like this that makes me wonder if there is something to be said with regard to global warming. But that's a subject for another time and another place.
In the coming days, though, this upper-level ridge and way-to-the-north jet stream will actually grow STRONGER. Take a look at the current jet stream across the country:
Compare that to the averages:
Now look at the upper-level pattern for Monday:
You're essentially taking the air that's already warm in the Plains and Mississippi Valley and expanding it northward to cover all of Ontario. From there, it's free to flow eastward through Quebec and across the Great Lakes. All you'll need to get that warmth all the way to the East Coast, particularly the New England Coast, is a strong enough west wind to shove out all of the marine air that's in place now. I believe it will turn warmer in these areas this weekend, but that the best chance of getting 70s (80?) to eastern New England will be Wednesday and Thursday, when high pressure should be sitting south of New England and in prime position to produce those westerly breezes.
Between now and then, areas east of the mountains, and especially across the eastern New England Coast, the southern New England coast, Long Island and the coastal mid-Atlantic region, will be influenced or impacted by this marine air, such as what cooled Philadelphia to the 50s on Thursday, while in the Susquehanna Valley, it reached the middle and upper 70s!
Over the weekend, the air won't be as cool as it was coming down along the East coast yesterday. Nevertheless, temperatures won't nearly as far above average in many of these aforementioned areas as they will be across northern and far western New England and especially upstate New York on west.
In addition to the concerns over specific temperature forecasts, there will be these little upper-level disturbances that will cause some mischief, such as the one crossing the Appalachians now. It helped trigger a few severe thunderstorms yesterday, including a few rare March tornadoes in Michigan! Another similar feature will roll through the Ohio Valley tomorrow night and into the central Appalachians Sunday, promoting more clouds and a few showers, even some thunderstorms.
As the bigger feature rolls out of the southern Rockies to begin next week, it will generate a much larger area of strong thunderstorms that could turn very nasty Monday and Monday night into Tuesday from Texas into Oklahoma and Kansas.
Aside from those things, however, the big picture is, and will remain, very warm for March for the next week or more.
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