Record-Challenging Warmth Interrupts Winter in the Northeast

Last Saturday, several record highs have been set in the northeastern US and more high-temperature records are expected by the time the weekend ends. The springlike warmth has made it feel like anything but in the middle of January.

Previously reported, cold and snow have eluded most of the Lower 48 states and winter has gone into hibernation, except for Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said that last Saturday, a total of 61 locations across the Ohio Valley and Northeast set new temperature records. Temperatures rose at 15-35 degrees above normal across the region.

Chillier weather is expected to make an appearance in late January.

High-temperature records were recorded as far back as the late 1800s that have been toppled including in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Columbus, Ohio. Allentown's record high for January 11 is 66 degrees set back in 1975 and the record high for January 12 is 65 degrees, set in 2018.

Also, last Saturday, the mercury at Erie International Airport was 67 degrees Fahrenheit at 11:51 a.m.

According to meteorologists, record-challenging warmth is on the doorstep during what is typically the coldest part of the year.

Frigid air has moved to the frozen north, and many areas to the south are basking in springlike warmth.

Since late December, the weather over the eastern United States has at times more closely resembled that of summer.

In New York City at Central Park, the high temperature of 69 broke the old record of 63, while at Laguardia Airport in Queens, the temp of 66 surpassed the previous value of 62.

The National Weather Service said that Boston Logan Airport hit 70, only the third time Boston has reached 70 degrees or warmer in January since 1872.

The amount of warmth depends on the amount of cloud cover and rain, but some models have suggested temperature departures of 20 to 30 degrees above normal.

Sufficed by Empire Weather meteorologist Ed Vallee when he summed up the weekend forecast by noting, "Ski resorts, shield your eyes."

This weekend, Pittsburgh broke its 130-year-old temperature record when the thermostat showed a reading of 70, while Saturday's old record high in the Steel City stood at 68 from 1890.

Charleston, West Virginia, defeated Saturday's daily record of 71 hits just last year when temps reached 80 around 3 p.m.

Following a rare, seasonably cold day Thursday in Washington and Boston, the cities saw streaks of 17 and 19 consecutive days with higher-than-average temperatures.

Temperatures rose degrees or more above normal for this time of year across much of the Interstate 95 corridor, surpassing 60 degrees in the Northeast and flirting with 70 in the Mid-Atlantic.

Warm-weather enthusiasts will be more than happy on the heating cost savings during the heat spell, with warm air will surging northward.

Following the arrival of warm air is a large storm system poised to unleash flooding rainfall in the Midwest, an outbreak of severe weather and tornadoes in the South, and snow and devastating ice from the central Plains to the Great Lakes and New England.

Meteorologists call what is transpiring a "highly amplified pattern" allowing the average flow of air across the US to originate from the Pacific Ocean.

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