Heat Wave in March?

I know, you’re looking out your window at the mid-March snow on the ground (poorly predicted by the way), and I’m talking about a heat wave.  And yet, your weather app is talking about 60s next week. 

Here’s the predicted weather map for this coming Thursday. As you know by now, red shading means abnormal high pressure, which equates to warmth.  This prediction is for warmth all across the West. 



This weather pattern is more typical of summer than March. And the predicted temperatures back that up. 

Below is a map of forecast high temperatures for Tuesday 17 March that meet or exceed the record high for that day. 



That’s some pretty warm temperatures spread over a rather large.  Here’s the same map for Wednesday. 



Temperatures are increasing and spreading out. Now for Thursday:



Triple digits in much of the desert southwest, with the heat extending all the way to Arkansas and up to North Dakota. And yes, even a predicted record of 65 at Lewiston. 

And lastly, Friday:



If you flip through those 4 maps, a lot of locations in the Southwest are potentially going to set record high temperatures each day of this week. 

But isn’t it always hot in the desert?  Yes, but not this early. Let me show you what I mean. 

While Phoenix has hit 100F in March before, they’ve never reached 105F in this month. That’s the forecast for them for Thursday. The record for the earliest 105F ever in Phoenix (records date back to 1896) is April 20 of 1989.  That means that they could break this record by a month!  That is unheard of. On average they don’t reach those temperatures until late May. This is still March. 

Could we break records up here?  Possibly, but doubtful.  Record highs this week in Spokane are right around 70. The consensus forecast says we should stay in the lower 60s, which is still well above a normal high this week of around 50. But a few computer forecasts predict that we might flirt with some records, mainly around Thursday. 

The reason is that we will have a weak Atmospheric River pointed at Washington next week. Only light rain showers are expected over eastern Washington, but plenty of clouds which will keep our temperatures from really heating up. 

Enjoy the warmth. 

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