Extreme Early Fall Pattern to Keep South, East Searing in Record Heat into October

A sharp southward plunge of the jet stream will park itself over the West while a large northward bulge of the jet stream sets up over the East. As a result, it will feel more like early winter in the West, with summerlike heat that will smash records searing a large portion of the South and East.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop at times early this week across parts of the Plains and Midwest in the battleground zone between the cold West and hot East.

(MORE: Flooding Possible in Parts of Plains, Midwest)

Record Heat in the South and East

Temperatures will soar to 10 to 25 degrees above average through much of this week across the Deep South and into the Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

This translates to afternoon temperatures in the 90s from Texas to South Carolina and the 80s or lower 90s in the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic, continuing what has already been one of the hottest Septembers on record for many cities in those regions.

More than a dozen daily record highs could fall each day through Thursday, especially in the South.

Some cities may have several days of record or near-record highs, including Atlanta; Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Tallahassee, Florida.

A few all-time record highs for the month of October could be in jeopardy too. Highs into the 90s may put Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee; Jackson, Mississippi; and Birmingham, Alabama, into the record books as having the hottest October day on record this week.

Nashville, Tennessee, may have a streak of seven days of 90-plus-degree high temperatures extend into October for the first time in records dating to 1940.

Low temperatures will also be warmer than average, with temperatures only dipping into the 60s and 70s for most locations across the South, Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic early this week. Dozens of daily record-warm low temperatures are likely.

Any Relief Ahead?

Late this week, some relief should finally arrive to these heat-fatigued areas.

A cold front will finally make its way into the East by Friday, then at least give a glancing blow to parts of the South by next weekend.

This will knock high temperatures down to more typical early October readings, generally in the 50s or 60s in the Midwest and Northeast by late this week.

In the South, however, temperatures will only be less hot by the weekend, still above early October averages.

This means highs next weekend may hold in the 70s in parts of the Carolinas, with 80s in parts of North Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The Deep South, however, is still likely to see highs in the 90s next weekend, but that's several degrees less hot than this week's record-smashing heat.

(MORE: NOAA Predicts Warmer Than Average Temperatures for the Entire U.S. Through December)

Records Highs Set Since Late Last Week

Records were shattered last Thursday in Atlanta, where the daily record was topped by 5 degrees. Even more impressive, Macon, Georgia, hit 102 degrees last Thursday, beating the old record of 96 by 6 degrees.

In Florida, Jacksonville's high of 97 degrees last Thursday was the latest in the year it had been so hot, beating the previous record by five days.

Other daily record highs were set Friday in Atlanta (97 degrees) and Macon, Georgia (102 degrees), for the second day in a row, and both temperatures were the hottest recorded so late in the season.

Record highs were set Saturday in several Northeast cities, including Cincinnati; Scranton, Pennsylvania; and Richmond, Virginia.

On Sunday, daily record highs were set in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee; Richmond, Virginia; and Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina.

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