(Reuters) – Some U.S. residents will switch from wearing Bermuda shorts to snow pants in less than 24 hours, meteorologists said on Monday, as a heat wave in the central Plains and South gives way to weather more typical for this time of year.
Temperatures on Monday in states like Nebraska and Iowa were in the mid-70s F (low 20s C), about 40 F (22 C) above averages for this time of year, while cities in the South, like Dallas, Texas, , humming in the mid-90s F (mid-30s C).
This week's heat wave comes on the heels of other unusual weather across the United States this winter — from “atmospheric river” rains in California that dumped an entire year's rain in a matter of hours, to historic low levels of ice cover over the Great Lakes.
Meteorologists said it is difficult to pinpoint any single weather pattern to human-induced climate change, but extreme weather is becoming more frequent because of it. Scientists say the El Niño weather pattern also contributes to the unusual weather.
An unusual cause is contributing to this week's heat wave, said Joe Wegman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“Most of the eastern two-thirds of the country had a relatively snowless winter, so the ground is bare and dry,” Wegman said. “So we get warmer temperatures just because of solar radiation.”
This solar radiation combines with warmer winds blowing off the Gulf of Mexico to push several locations to potentially record high temperatures. The heat wave will move quickly eastward across the United States and extend into the Atlantic Ocean by Thursday, Wegman said.
Some locations experiencing unseasonably warm weather on Monday will be hit by a cold front on Tuesday, Wegmann said. He pointed to Grand Forks, North Dakota, where high temperatures on Monday were set to reach 55 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by Tuesday highs of 9 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills as low as -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 degrees Celsius).
Meanwhile, scientists from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that ice cover in the lakes has reached historic lows. Coverage ranged from 0% in Lake Erie to 10% in Lake Huron, according to laboratory data.
The peak of the Great Lakes ice season occurs in early March, so some recovery is still possible.
Ice is a vital part of the Great Lakes ecosystem. It provides a buffer against beach erosion by large waves common in winter, and protection for the eggs laid by many fish species.
The laboratory said in a report last week that the ice cover in the Great Lakes is decreasing by 5% every decade due to warmer weather, shrinking by 25% from 1973 to 2023.
(This story has been rewritten to correct the capitalization of “plains” in paragraph 1 and to delete an odd word in paragraph 2)
(Additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado, and Jonathan Allen in New York City; Editing by Donna Bryson and David Gregorio)
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