Climate Of Worry, Con't

2021 will be the hottest year on record most likely, and December may be the most record-setting month of the year, with temps some 30 degrees above normal.

 

Winter, by the meteorological definition (Dec. 1 to Feb. 28), began Wednesday morning, but the weather is feeling more like mid-fall or mid-spring in many parts of the contiguous United States. High temperatures are set to spike 20 to 30 degrees or more above normal through Thursday, with the core of the unusual warmth over the eastern Rockies and the nation’s heartland. In much of this area, temperatures will swell into the 60s and 70s.

Through the end of the week, the National Weather Service projects 90 new record highs.

Though the intensity of the warmth will ease by the weekend, there are signs that milder-than-average weather could prevail over most of the Lower 48 into at least mid-December.

Relatively cooler conditions will exist across portions of the Northeast and New England thanks to a steady stream of air filtering down from Canada and the north, but only that sliver of the country should experience the chill.

Warm, high pressure sprawled over the West has already led to numerous temperature records. On Sunday, 46 records were set from San Diego to Seattle.

On Tuesday, most of the records in the West were concentrated in California. San Jose soared to a record of 73 degrees. Modesto, Calif., and Palm Springs both soared to 91 degrees, the warmest spots in the nation. That tied a record in Palm Springs last set in 1949. Nearby Riverside and San Jacinto broke records at 89 and 87 degrees, respectively. Some of the warmth oozed east toward the southern Plains; Oklahoma City set a record high of 75 degrees.

The heat in California caps off one of its hottest and driest Novembers observed. Statewide rankings are still being compiled, but for many stations November was more than a degree warmer than previous records. Palm Springs had an average monthly temperature of 72.7 degrees, 1.8 degrees above its previous warmest November in 2017. The city didn’t see a stitch of rainfall all month long, which was also the case in Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Riverside and Victorville. San Diego reported a trace.

 

And of course all of this will only get worse in the months and years ahead.