Record warmth spreads across Southwest and Central US as new storm moves in

Record low temperatures were set in over a dozen states on the East Coast on Saturday with temperatures in the teens and 20s and frost advisories remain in effect through Sunday morning from Alabama to West Virginia.

While the East Coast was getting a taste of winter, record high temperatures spread across the Southwest from Arizona to South Dakota and more record highs could be broken today in up to 11 states.

Some strong storms over the upper Mississippi valley to the Texas panhandle are expected on Monday night into Tuesday with heavy rain, damaging winds and large hail possible as the storm moves east Wednesday into Thursday.

Yesterday’s wintry blast hit record lows in over a dozen states across the East Coast with Allentown, Pennsylvania tying a record of 20 degrees in 1954, and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina each reaching new low records of 26 degrees.

There will be one more day of below freezing temperatures with up to seven states still under frost advisories through Sunday.

Temperatures are already up to 20 degrees warmer compared to Saturday’s temperatures in the teens and 20s and temperatures will be in the 60s and 70s today across most of the East Coast as warmer air settles in by this afternoon into next week.

Today temperatures will be 10 to 25 degrees above average in the Southwest U.S. with records possible in Denver, Colorado to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

With warmer temperatures hovering over the Western and Central U.S., these conditions support an elevated risk of fire weather on Sunday across the Plains and Montana with wind gusts of up to 35 mph and humidity levels as low as 12%.

As the first storm moves in Monday night into Tuesday, another storm could move in by Wednesday into Thursday from the Plains to the deep South.

The risk for severe weather is still low for the region but it is something to watch as the week progresses.

Rain totals up to 3 inches or more is possible in Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska and extending towards the South in Tennessee and Mississippi through Thursday.