Cascade Snow To Be Measured In Feet

A January thaw has taken over the central and eastern states and is expected to continue into early next week.

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Parts of the South and East experienced a brief warm-up last week, and several record highs were set in those regions. However, this week's thaw is warmer, more widespread and longer lasting, with the entire eastern half of the Lower 48 experiencing temperatures 10 to 30 degrees above average, at times, for multiple days.

(MORE: 10-Day Forecast High/Low Temperatures)

A weather pattern more typical of early spring has set up this week, with the polar jet stream generally diving southward in the West, and correspondingly surging northward in the central and eastern U.S. into eastern Canada.

The warmth could result in scattered daily record highs in the Midwest and South, at times, through the weekend.

(MORE: When Is the Coldest Time of the Year?)

Wednesday, Charlotte, North Carolina, set a new daily record high of 75 degrees, and Greenville, South Carolina, broke its daily record by reaching 78 degrees.

Florence, South Carolina, tied Wednesday's record high of 79 degrees, while North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, broke the daily record by climbing to 78 degrees.

Atlanta reached 70-plus degrees for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday, making it the longest such streak for January in that city, according to the National Weather Service.

To see more of this week's record high temperatures, you can scroll to the bottom of this article.

(FORECAST: Philadelphia | Indianapolis | St. Louis)

Here is a day-by-day breakdown of the specifics of our ongoing January thaw.

• Thursday: Temperatures 10 to 30 degrees above average remain likely from the Plains to the East Coast. Highs in the 40s and 50s will be common in the Midwest and Northeast, with 30s confined to the far north. 60s and 70s will persist in the South.
• Friday: Much warmer-than-average temperatures will prevail from the Midwest to the East Coast. Highs in the 50s are possible as far north as the Ohio Valley, mid-Mississippi Valley and mid-Atlantic.
• Saturday: The mid-Mississippi Valley through the Ohio Valley will experience the peak of the warmth, with highs 20 to 30 degrees above average from St. Louis and Chicago to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. These cities are expected to reach the 50s and 60s for high temperatures.
• Sunday: The Northeast and mid-Atlantic will turn slightly cooler but remain 10 to 15 degrees above average. The upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley will be over 20 degrees above average, with highs in the 40s and 50s in those regions.​

​(FORECAST: New York City | Pittsburgh | Memphis)

Friday is Inauguration Day in Washington D.C., and our current forecast is close to the record-warmest Inauguration Day from Ronald Reagan on Jan. 20, 1981, when the high temperature was 55 degrees.

(MORE: Inauguration Day 2017 May Be Among the Warmest and Wettest)

While this large chunk of the United States enjoys the January thaw, parts of Alaska's interior are shivering with temperatures plunging to as low as the minus 50s this week. Typically, when Alaska sees such frigid temperatures in the winter, a portion of the Lower 48 states will end up with well-above-average warmth.

Record Highs Since Monday

Tuesday

Tuesday, Montgomery, Alabama, set a new daily record high of 80 degrees, and New Orleans tied its record high of 79 degrees.

Cincinnati also tied its daily record high of 63 degrees, originally set in 1952. The mercury topped out at 64 degrees in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday afternoon, breaking the old record of 62 degrees, also from 1952.

Monday

Monday, Galveston, Texas, set a new record high temperature by reaching 76 degrees. The old daily record for Jan. 16 was 73 degrees, set in 2000.

Additionally, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, tied its daily record high of 81 degrees on Monday, which was first set in 1943. Brownsville, Texas, also tied its record high Monday by reaching 83 degrees, originally set in 1895 and 1978.

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