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Record breaking heat to surge across most of US

Posted at 9:10 AM, Feb 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-16 15:18:51-05

If you didn't already have a case of spring fever, you're about to — especially if you live in the eastern half of the United States.

It's already been a warm February for most of the country, and it's about to get a lot warmer.

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A large ridge of high pressure is beginning to work its way across the Plains, into the Midwest and eventually the East.

High temperatures are going to be 20-to-30 degrees warmer than normal beginning on Friday and lasting through Presidents Day Weekend.

As early as Friday, places like Omaha, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri are going to see temperatures approaching 70 degrees when they're used to high temperatures struggling to top out at 40.

By Saturday and Sunday, the warmth will move into Midwestern cities like Indianapolis and Cincinnati where highs will be in the 60's as opposed to the usual 40's. Northern Midwest cities like Green Bay, Milwaukee and Detroit will all get a solid taste of warm spring temperatures. Temperatures there are typically closer to 30 this time of year, but highs will be in the 50's.

By the end of the weekend, the unusually warm air will have taken over the entire eastern two-thirds of the United States – from the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast.

This pattern appears to be a continuation of what we've seen for most of 2017.

Every state except for a handful of states in the Northwest saw a warmer than average January. A lot of that warmth was concentrated in the eastern half of the country.

More than 10,000 daily temperature records have been broken this year, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. Denver also set a record for the earliest 80-degree day less than a week ago, beating the record by more than a month.

If this warm trend continues, we'll likely see more records getting broken, especially over the next few days.

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