The wild swings of weather the central and eastern United States has endured recently – from blizzards and bitter cold to severe thunderstorms and near-record warmth – are typical for March as the seasons transition from winter to spring, forecasters said.
"Wide temperatures swings are normal as you get into meteorological spring, which starts on March 1," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Courtney Travis in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "It’s during this time that you’ll start to see enough warm and cold air present in North America to get those larger temperature changes."
No other month experiences such dramatic temperature swings, and these wild fluctuations aren’t random chaos. They’re the result of two fundamentally different air masses fighting for control while neither has a clear advantage, according to weather-daily.com.
And while the eastern United States has seen wild swings from hot to cold, it's big-time heat that's the story this week in the West, with all-time record March heat possible in some locations.
The wild swings in temperature across the East are thanks to an active storm track over the past few weeks, Travis explained.
