US, Canada cities see record February heat
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Cities across the United States and Canada reached record temperatures for February this week, with multiple locations experiencing summer-like heat despite the three remaining weeks of winter.
The city of Saint Louis in midwestern Missouri state saw the mercury hit 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday, the highest temperature ever recorded in that month, after the heat peaked at 80 F on Monday.
An El Niño weather pattern is at play, in addition to climate change, experts say.
But the summery highs are not expected to last, with temperatures set to quickly plunge back into deep winter chills.
Although weather climbed into the 70s in Chicago on Tuesday, it was set to dive below freezing when factoring in the wind chill by Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
It characterized the swing as “absolutely brutal” in a post on social media, which also warned of possible wind gusts over 50 miles per hour as a cold front moved in on Tuesday night.
The NWS summarized the weather pattern in Illinois state’s most well-known city as seeing summer, spring, fall and winter “crammed into the next 24 hours.”
Similar temperature swings are expected across the middle of the country, possibly bringing brutal storm patterns, including tornadoes and hail.
Minneapolis-St. Paul in midwestern Minnesota state saw a record February temperature of 65 F on Monday, followed by blizzard warnings for Tuesday.
Canada also notched record heat, with the city of Montreal hitting a daily record on Tuesday at 59 F, the country’s Environment Ministry said.
Last month marked the warmest January the world has ever seen, the US’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Union’s Copernicus agency said.
And despite the impending chill setting in, “February 2024 remains the odds-on favorite to be the warmest February on record,” wrote climate scientist Zeke Hausfather on X, formerly Twitter.
Climate analyses for February are set to be released by NOAA on March 8 for US temperatures and March 14 for global temperatures.