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SPRING FEELS LIKE SUMMER FOR MOST OF NATION

April 16, 2002 — An early taste of summer heat broke 70 temperature records from the Midwest to the East on Monday, and the warm weather is expected to last at least through Friday in some areas, forecasters at NOAA's National Weather Service said today. (Washington, D.C., set a new record high of 92 degrees today, beating the old record of 91 set in 1976. Click NOAA image for larger view. Please credit "NOAA.")

On Monday, the mercury soared into the upper 80s and mid-90s in the Midwest: Sioux City, Iowa, hit 96 degrees—the highest temperature ever recorded this early in the year. In McCook, Neb., the temperature reached 97 degrees.

The story was the same in Chicago, where the temperature hit 88, breaking the old record of 84. Minneapolis reached 91 degrees, eclipsing the old record by nine degrees. Toledo, Ohio, broke a record with 85 degrees.

Along the East Coast, temperatures were forecast to climb into the 90s on Tuesday. Washington Reagan National Airport hit 92 degrees, breaking the old record of 91 set in 1976. Dulles International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport, both outside Washington, D.C., also broke records with each reaching 89 degrees. The previous records were set in 1976. New York's Central Park hit 90 degrees, breaking the old record of 88 set way back in 1896. Records also fell in Atlantic City, N.J., Bridgeport, Conn., Rochester and Syracuse in New York.

Records were set for the second-straight day in portions of the Midwest, Great Plains and Ohio Valley. St. Louis, Mo., hit 90 degrees, surpassing the old record of 88 set in 1977.

On the other side of the weather spectrum, Worcester, Mass., Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, and Albany, N.Y., all had record daily minimum temperatures, with overnight lows staying in the upper 50s Monday night.

"A developing storm system over the Rockies is helping to pull this very warm, moist air northward," said David Reynolds, a senior forecaster at the National Weather Service. "The storm system may help spawn an outbreak of severe weather across the Plains states (the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska) on Tuesday."

Reynolds added the record to near-record warmth in the Plains should begin to return to normal by Wednesday. However, the heat will hang on in the Gulf and East Coast states through Friday.

"We expect the heat to break by late Friday, but not before more unseasonably warm temperatures occur along the East Coast," Reynolds said. "As the storm over the Rockies heads northeast, the associated cold front will bring the potential for much-needed rain in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states."

Relevant Web Sites
NOAA's National Weather Service

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center

NOAA's Storm Watch

NOAA's Tornadoes Page

NOAA's Monthly Tornado Statistics

Media Contact:
John Leslie, NOAA's National Weather Service, (301) 713-0622

 

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