What happened to spring?

Summer heads to East Coast as West gets a dose of winter

Though the calendar says it’s spring, folks in the East will swelter in summerlike heat this week while some residents of the West will need to break out snow shovels.

High temperatures Wednesday through Friday in the eastern USA will climb well into the 80s as far north as Maine, while many of the major cities from Boston to New York City, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit will approach or surpass 90 degrees on one or more days this week.

Temperatures in many cities will approach record levels, some dating back to the 1800s, AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. The May 18 record high of 96 degrees in Washington, set in 1877, could be threatened on Thursday.

High humidity levels will add to the misery. The National Weather Service calls it an “early taste of summer,” with the dreaded three h’s of haze, heat and humidity. A cold front will send temperatures closer to midMay averages this weekend in the Northeast, weather.com reported.

Residents of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Utah will see heavy, wet snow from a developing winter storm. Some mountainous areas probably will see as much as 18 inches of snow.

Salt Lake City will see a light snow accumulation Wednesday, the weather information service WeatherBug predicted, while Denver could pick up several inches of slush Thursday into Friday.

High temperatures will reach only the 30s in many locations.