A massive winter storm moved through the country during the weekend and Monday, producing an incredibly heavy amount of snow from southeast Minnesota into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where over 20 inches have fallen.

That has been followed by a quick burst of arctic air that brought temperatures down below freezing all the way to the Gulf of America, and below zero in the Upper Midwest.

But just as quickly as that burst of cold has moved in, it is moving out. Temperatures in the Southwest are increasing rapidly, and records are going to be broken for the next several days. That warmth will spread into the Plains where snow will melt and soils will dry out, leading to more issues for wildfires and falling crop conditions for winter wheat.

The cold is potent, but at least it's brief. It is still leading to lake-effect snow across the Great Lakes here on March 17, giving St. Patrick's Day partygoers some miserable conditions. But the cold is already on its way out of the High Plains. Temperatures that were in the single digits above and below zero Fahrenheit from Montana down to the Texas Panhandle on Monday morning are now in the 20s and 30s F on Tuesday morning. That warmth will continue to build and spread eastward through the country during the next few days. Most areas will have above-normal temperatures by the end of the week.

For some areas, the warmth will be extreme. Temperatures in the Southwest and Southern Plains are going to be 20 to 30 degrees above normal, breaking some records, especially in the Desert Southwest. Phoenix appears to be the area most likely to see consistent heat. Only once has the temperature hit more than 100 degrees F in March, but it's forecast to do so for five straight days.

Though the temperature may slip below 100 degrees F next week, the forecast is still for a record-high 98 degrees F on March 23, and record-high temperatures will be possible from March 18 through March 31 as the heat never really leaves.

Below is the forecast for the next several days for select cities, and the record high for the day. For some areas, records will be broken by almost 10 degrees, a show of just how hot this air mass will become.

Temperature reports back in the early 1900s were the source of the record highs in the Southern Plains, which may be suspect, but could still be broken on a few accounts.

City	Wednesday (forecast high/record)	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Los Angeles, CA	94/87	95/97	94/93	88/93	84/88
Phoenix, AZ	101/95	104/96	106/96	105/97	103/94
Las Vegas, NV	95/90	97/90	99/90	97/92	93/91
Salt Lake City, UT	77/79	78/75	80/75	79/75	71/75
Denver, CO	78/82	81/81	83/80	86/78	70/79
Albuquerque, NM	83/80	87/85	89/82	90/81	87/82
North Platte, NE	76/84	77/90	84/83	89/86	62/86
Dodge City, KS	79/87	82/98	89/91	92/94	74/89
Amarillo, TX	82/91	88/96	90/96	94/92	86/87
Oklahoma City, OK	80/89	87/97	91/92	94/95	90/89
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	78/92	88/95	90/92	94/100	94/93

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John Baranick can be reached at john.baranick@dtn.com

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