Warm weather brings brings a taste of spring to central and western United States
OMAHA, Neb.– A warm front moved across much of the country on Sunday in what is usually one of the coldest months of the year, driving people from their homes to enjoy a rare winter break but also bringing with it a greater wildfire danger along.
In Omaha, Nebraska, temperatures broke 65 degrees (18.3 degrees Celsius) on Sunday on a day when the average high temperature is around freezing, according to the National Weather Service.
“Omaha is experiencing its second-warmest February on record in its 154-year history of weather tracking,” National Weather Service meteorologist Michaela Wood said Sunday. “And there is a chance to break the record as early as tomorrow, when we are dealing with a high temperature of around 80 degrees Celsius.”
The sunny warmth brought Stacy Lawson and her husband, Hugh Lawson, of Omaha, outside for a game of pickleball with friends. But they weren’t the only ones.
“Outdoor courts are prime real estate when it’s warm,” says Stacy Lawson. “The first one we tried was already full.”
The Lawsons and their competitors, Tim and Andrea Driscoll, had a hard time remembering the last year they were able to play outside in February.
“In Nebraska, February is both the shortest and longest month of the year,” Tim Driscoll deadpanned.
While warmer than normal temperatures have provided a respite from the harsh winter conditions, this has not been without some concern. The National Weather Service took advantage of the heat, low humidity, wind gusts of more than 35 mph in some places and dry winter vegetation to issue fire danger warnings in an area spanning parts of 11 states.
Red flag warnings and fire warnings were issued in parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, into Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and east into Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. Neighboring states, including parts of Arkansas, Minnesota and Wisconsin, were under hazardous weather outlooks due to increased fire danger, according to weather service maps.
A grass fire caused by high winds closed Interstate 25 near the Colorado-Wyoming border Saturday for about an hour before it was extinguished, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
The unusually early warm spell could cause problems in the future, Wood said. The Climate Prediction Center says there is an increased chance of higher than normal temperatures and lower than normal rain in the region through the end of summer.
“If we continue on this trend, we could enter another drought, and that would be a major concern – especially when it comes to fire risks,” she said.
In Denver, Chicago and Des Moines, Iowa, temperatures reached into the 60s on Sunday, and in Kansas City, Missouri, temperatures were in the mid-70s. The unseasonably warm conditions sent many people outside to play in local parks, wash their cars and even get an early start on lawn care.
In Chicago, people who would normally be in winter gear to combat the city’s famously bitter winter winds instead frolicked around the shores of Lake Michigan in light jackets or even shorts and T-shirts.
Bethany Scheiner, 53, took advantage of the weather to take her 14-year-old son to Chicago’s Lincoln Park where he could practice his soccer skills.
“It’s so unusual,” Scheiner said of the warm weather. “I mean, this is the month where we all go away to escape the Chicago winter.”
The warming is expected to bring record-breaking high temperatures on Monday, Wood said. But a cold front will plunge the region back into winter Tuesday night, bringing subzero wind chills and snow across much of the central part of the country on Wednesday.