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The Heat is On

| March 19, 2017 @ 11:38 am

Record heat spreading across the southern United States is the biggest story in national weather on this last Sunday of winter. Here are the highlights:

SATURDAY SIZZLER
Saturday was a sizzler across the West. The high of 79F in Salt Lake City smashed the previous record of 72F for the date and came within one degree of tying the all time March record high. It was 99F in Death valley and 95F in Phoenix. The Phoenix reading was a record. Las Vegas hit 90F. The heat reached all the way into Montana, where it was a record 74F in Bozeman. Gallup NM hit 75F, a record for the date. In Colorado, Boulder hit 75F to establish a new mark for March 18th. My Happy Place, Telluride, CO hit 62F as skiers braved the spring conditions to ski a 59 inch base.

BIG SWING
Yesterday’s temperature range at Limon CO was an amazing 55 degrees, from a morning low of 18F to an afternoon high of 73F!

TDOAY’S HEAT
Will be centered across the Desert Southwest and Central and Southern Plains. Parts of the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles into southern Kansas will be in the middle 90s this afternoon, over 30 degrees above normal!

SNOWMELT PROBLEMS
The warmth over the West is leading to lots of flooding. Areal flood watches and warnings are in effect over much of Idaho, eastern Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana and Nevada.

MORE SNOWS ON THE WAY
18-24 inches of snow is expected to fall between now and Wednesday at Ebbett’s Pass in the central Sierra mountains of California. 36-48 inches will fall atop Lassen Peak. The northern Sierra is still way ahead of its record snow year, and most of those stations should get another 12-18 inches this week!

CRITICAL FIRE
Critical fire conditions exist today across the western Plains. Like like Cheyenne WY and areas along I-40 between Albuquerque and Amarillo have extremely high wildfire danger today. In fact, all the western Plains from Wyoming and western Nebraska down to eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle have a high fire danger today.

FLORIDA THREAT
Drought is increasing across Florida as well and the fire danger is high today across much of the Sunshine State as well.

Category: ALL POSTS, Met 101/Weather History

About the Author ()

Bill Murray is the President of The Weather Factory. He is the site's official weather historian and a weekend forecaster. He also anchors the site's severe weather coverage. Bill Murray is the proud holder of National Weather Association Digital Seal #0001 @wxhistorian

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