The calendar says October, but Wednesday will feel like the middle of summer for the eastern half of the United States with a number of cities closing their schools due to the intense heat.
Record-high temperatures for this time of year are forecast for the South and Eastern seaboard – even as the Great Plains region received a shock of snowy winter weather.
All-time October record highs were either tied or set in more than a dozen American cities on Tuesday, including Cleveland, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Louisville, Columbus, and Dayton, Ohio, according to The Weather Channel.
Large sections of the Southern and Eastern United States can expect temperatures to hover near 100 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday
Luckily, relief is in sight as temperatures are expected to cool down as we approach the weekend
Record-highs are likely to be shattered in Raleigh, Knoxville, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Tallahassee on Wednesday
The soaring temperatures will also be felt on Wednesday and Thursday throughout the Deep South, Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast. The image above from July shows people cooling down in New York City
Record high temperatures were also recorded in Indianapolis, Indiana; Syracuse, New York; New Orleans; Montgomery, Alabama; Paducah, Kentucky; Blacksburg, Virginia; and Tallahassee, Florida.
The soaring temperatures will also be felt on Wednesday and Thursday throughout the Deep South, Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast.
The temperatures will reach highs that are between 10 and 25 degrees above the average for this time of year, according to meteorologists.
Raleigh, North Carolina can expect a high of 95 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday – smashing the record of 91 set in 1986.
Knoxville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; and Tallahassee, Florida will also likely reach 95 degrees – which would be record-setting for all three cities.
The forecast calls for a 97-degree day in Birmingham, Alabama, which would surpass the record – 93 degrees – set in 1904.
The high temperature in Montgomery, Alabama for Wednesday and Thursday is expected to reach 98 degrees.
The unseasonably hot weather has prompted a number of local governments to close schools.
Baltimore County said that public schools that are not equipped with air conditioning will be closed on Wednesday, according to WJZ-TV.
A ‘historic’ winter storm hit the West along the Rocky mountains over the weekend, hitting Montana the hardest where it dumped up to 48 inches of snow by Monday, brought gusting winds of 30 to 35 mph, and freezing temperatures. Nancy Feakes shared this picture of her neighbor’s house in East Glacier, Montana covered in snow
Snow day! Eight districts cancelled school on Monday as locals took to the outdoors to enjoy the snowy weather that fell on the first week of autumn. Snowbanks were so high in some areas of Montana they reached the roofs of houses. Local woman Mina Kipp shared this image showing her husband, who is 6ft 4, standing in the snow in Browning, Montana
Several schools in Northeast Ohio will also be closed.
The state’s largest school district, Columbus City Schools, did not have classes on Tuesday.
Temperatures in Ohio reached 90 degrees in some parts, which shattered a record that stood since 1946, according to WEWS-TV.
The situation could not be any different in the northwestern half of the country.
A ‘historic’ winter storm hit the West over the weekend where it dumped 48 inches of snow in Montana, brought shockingly low temperatures, triggered power outages, and downed trees and power lines – just a week after summer officially ended.
Strong winds and blizzard conditions are forecast to continue through Monday in the states along the Rocky Mountains including parts of Montana, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.
A ‘winter storm emergency’ declaration was announced Sunday in Montana as the intense storm dumped historic amounts of snow, breaking century-long records, and created life-threatening conditions of biting cold and vicious winds.
In the town of Browning, near Glacier National Park, a whopping 48 inches of snow fell from Friday to Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Garden City Harvest grower Brihannala Morgan gazes over her five-row plot after harvesting the last of what she could from the plants in snow that hit Missoula, Montana on Sunday
Winter storm in the fall! Tommy Little, from left, Cody Little, Kyndra Neal and Tanya Little use the snow accumulation to sled down a hill in Missoula, Montana on Sunday
‘It’s a February storm in September,’ Jeff Mow, the superintendent of Glacier National Park, said to the New York Times.
‘We’re used to this kind of storm, just not this time of year.’
In Great Falls, 19.3 inches of snow fell over two days. On Sunday, 9.6 inches of snow fell in the city – setting new record for that date of September 29. A whopping 38 inches was also recorded since Friday in St. Mary.
On Saturday snow was also recorded at the Missoula International Airport, where no snow has been recorded on any September 28 since 1893.
Winds were gusting at 30 to 35 mph late Sunday, creating drifts ‘almost as high as some houses in that area’ near Browning, according to meteorologist Megan Steiner of the NWS office in Great Falls.
The winds cut power to some areas where the gusts downed trees and power lines, near and along the Rocky Mountain front.