Weather still looks, feels like winter across much of US

040818_forecast

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — In the wake of a frontal system that is bringing light snow and sleet to North Carolina and Virginia on Sunday morning, cold air from Canada is once again spilling into much of the central and eastern United States.

Wind chills for nearly the entire eastern half of the nation are quite cold for April. Some daily record lows are possible on Sunday morning in parts of the upper Midwest. Wind chills are in the 20s Sunday morning all the way from Oklahoma to North Carolina — something more typical of February and March than April.

Even in Houston, a location that sits on the Gulf of Mexico, wind chills are down near 40 degrees. In the Northeast, it feels like February, with wind chills dipping into the 20s.

There will be some improvement on Monday, but not much. It will still feel very much like winter across much of the eastern U.S., with wind chills in the 20s and 30s for most.

Another disturbance will move into the Northern Plains and upper Midwest on Sunday. Snow will spread across the region, with the heaviest accumulation expected on Sunday afternoon across parts of eastern South Dakota, southern Minnesota and Iowa. Some of the region could see 3 to 6 inches of snow by early Monday morning.

Seasonably mild air arrives

A push of seasonable air will work its way into the central U.S. by midweek with temperatures in the 70s and 80s across the southern Great Plains and Mississippi River Valley.

This push of mild air is expected to head toward the East Coast. By the end of this week, temperatures in the Northeast will be 10 to 15 degrees above average, with Washington, D.C., nearing 80 degrees and New York approaching 70 degrees. This is incredibly welcome news for this region of the country, which has been plagued by a prolonged cool spell the last four to five weeks with only brief periods of seasonable air.

Western rain and warmup

The storm that brought 3 to 6 inches of rain to Northern California is moving into southern Canada and bringing more rain and snow to parts of the Northwest. Wind gusts over 40 mph are still possible in parts of Washington and Oregon. Locally, an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain is likely through Monday.

A pattern change in the western U.S. will usher in drier, warmer winds this week. On Monday, unseasonably warm temperatures move into the Southwest with temperatures in the upper 80s for the major Southern California cities — around 15 to 20 degrees above average for this time of the year.

While temperatures will moderate along the coast by Tuesday and Wednesday, it gets even hotter in the Southwest desert. Palm Springs, California and Phoenix will be pushing triple digits this week, with near-record highs possible. It is the warmest air mass so far this season for this part of the country — a sign the warmer months of the year are finally arriving.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.