Rainy Day for Parts of the U.S.A.

Photo courtesy of Photos.com.

Mar 8, 2012; 8:20 PM ET

After a warm Wednesday for parts of the U.S., rain moved in from Texas to New England. An unseasonable warmth in the Southeast mixed with colder air from the North caused a large swath of rain to cut across the country on Thursday.

"Basically, we have chilly air in the northern Plains, unseasonably warm air in the southeast and in between we've got a frontal boundary," AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek said. "The cold air and warm air are converging and creating this massive amount of rain across the U.S. The warm winds are blowing up from the South, and the colder winds are blowing in from the North and the Northwest. It's a strong contrast zone."

Even with the rain reaching a large portion of the U.S., several major cities along the Eastern Seaboard stayed dry.

"The rain didn't reach places like Philadelphia, New York, Boston or Washington, D.C., that's why temperatures were unusually warm today," said Dombek. "Often times you'll see a large pattern of rain following the sudden increase temperature similar to what a large part of the U.S. saw yesterday. In fact, many times this kind of setup can lead to severe weather, but luckily we mainly just received rain in a lot of places today. There were some strong thunderstorms in areas in the South, but it wasn't even close to as bad as the outbreak of severe weather we saw last week."

As we move through the weekend, the rain should move off. However, it's not over yet. Rain will return to Texas by the end of the weekend.

"I think we'll see the rain move eastward as we get in through the weekend," said Dombek. "There will still be some rain for the Southeast, and then we'll see a growing area of rain later in the weekend for Texas, Oklahoma and the Plains states. Basically, this rain will push south, then weaken for a day or so, then regenerate another area of rain. By Sunday, the rain will hit, then it will move northeast into the Tennessee and Ohio valleys Sunday night into Monday."

Even though the rain will return, temperatures are expected to remain above normal. It will again feel as though an early spring has sprung for several areas across the U.S.

"It's going to be warm despite the rain next week," said Dombek. "It's a totally different situation (than this week) as you get into next week. You don't have that contrast zone anymore. All the cold air just retreats and then it's gone. Now, it's operating on that boundary. The cold air will come for a day or so, retreat by Sunday, and then it's gone."

According to AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Brian Edwards, wintry precipitation is highly unlikely next week, and the warm temperatures should continue.

"Even for places where it rains next week, it will still be warm," said Dombek.

Rainy Day for Parts of the U.S.A