21 Feb 2018
Yesterday we put on our summer clothes and this honeysuckle bush put out new leaves. It was summer in February.
At 78 degrees F the high temperature broke two Pittsburgh records: a new high for February 20 (formerly 68 degrees in 1891) and a new high for the entire month of February. It was 37 degrees above normal.
When you look at yesterday’s map you can see how it happened. The jet stream dipped across the Northern Rockies and Plains, then abruptly turned north over the Texas Panhandle. It was only 3 degrees F in western Nebraska while we were nearly 80. The narrow temperature gradient — that yellow line across the Midwest — continues to produce heavy rain.
Meanwhile, like a yo-yo, we’re headed back to normal tomorrow and will lose those 37 degrees. Today’s our last chance for record heat.
(photo by Kate St.John. Temperature map from the National Weather Service; click on the image to see the latest map)
Hit 73°F today. Sometime between 10 & 11 AM, I presume.
http://w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KPIT.html
All of my bulbs are already coming up. I always wonder if they will be okay once we get cooler temps through the rest of February and March and every year they are! I suppose this year will be no different.