By AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Mother Nature has sent much of the East on a temperature roller coaster ride so far this month, but AccuWeather meteorologists say one last dip in temperature is expected before the end of February.
The warmest air is expected to spread from the Ohio Valley and interior Northeast on Tuesday to the Interstate 95 corridor and Atlantic Coast on Wednesday. During this time, temperatures are forecast to peak in the middle 60s degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday for Boston and New York City, while Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. will be near 70.
Temperatures this high are just shy of record levels, but definitely not normal for late February. In fact, temperatures in the 60s are much more common during the month of April.
"The warmth is expected to be erased by a fresh wave of cold air by Thursday," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Paul Walker.
Cold air will dive southeastward from Canada and the Great Lakes behind the first of two storms, encompassing all of the Northeast by the time Thursday rolls around.
While the start of meteorological spring on March 1 is not far off, temperatures by Thursday will feel far from springlike.
After having one or two days where it feels like spring, residents will feel like the calendar has shifted back to earlier in the winter by the end of the week, according to Walker.
Temperatures are forecast to be slashed by as much as 20 to 40 degrees in just 24 hours for communities from Morgantown, West Virginia, and Burlington, Vermont, to the East Coast cities of Raleigh, North Carolina, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Portland, Maine.
Pittsburgh is forecast to only have a high in the mid-30s on Thursday, more than 25 degrees lower than earlier in the week. In Boston, the day's high will also only be in the middle 30s. By Friday night, both cities are expected to have low temperatures in the teens, with single digits likely in northern New England.
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While readings farther south across the mid-Atlantic will not be quite as low, the temperature change will be pronounced. High temperatures in Richmond, Virginia, are expected to drop just over 25 degrees between midday Wednesday to Thursday afternoon. A high in the middle 40s is predicted for the Virginia capital Thursday, following temperatures in the 70s Wednesday.
While the temperature fluctuation will be drastic, the magnitude of the cold is not particularly extreme. In fact, temperatures on average from New Hampshire to North Carolina on Friday are only expected to be a couple of degrees below the norm for the final week of February.
This wave of cold air will open the door for wintry weather to spread across the Great Lakes and Northeast as yet another cross-country storm sweeps through the area late Thursday and Friday.
Both snow and ice are expected to spread from Michigan and Ohio on Thursday and through the Northeast into Friday. Despite the previously mild conditions, several inches of snow is expected to accumulate.
"After a series of storms moved across the country this month, there will be a break in the cross-country activity from this weekend through early next week," said AccuWeather Long Range Expert Paul Pastelok, who explained that the lack of storms will allow the cold air in the East to linger into the first few days of March.
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