*NOTE: This article is now an almanac of Thursday’s weather. We have published a new forecast story for Friday.
It was a cloudy day on Thursday, the second straight day without sunshine officially, as sporadic flurries fluttered down from time to time.
Temperatures peaked in the low 30s, the warmest levels since January 16 when the mercury reached 37 degrees, but failed to break above freezing again.
Blustery southwest winds which gusted past 30 mph at times made it feel like the teens and low 20s.
Thursday U.S highs
Springlike warmth was not far away! It was in the 50s just 330 miles west in Des Moines, IA and even warmer across the Plains where the 72 degrees in Rapid City and 70 degrees in North Platte, NE eclipsed the old record for February 5. Still chilly from portions of the Midwest, Ohio Valley and Northeast where highs only reached the low 20s for places like Indianapolis and Pittsburgh.
Thursday departure from normal
It was a country divided Thursday afternoon! Extraordinary warmth across the Plains where highs were 20 to 35 degrees above normal. Meantime, from the Midwest to Northeast highs were generally 10 to 15 degrees below normal.
Thursday U.S. snow cover
Area snow cover continues to shrink compared to earlier this week and much of last week. Lower 48 snow coverage is down to about 35% compared to 56% about 10 days ago.
Extraordinary warmth breaks records Thursday
Climate and Environment news: WGN Weather Center blog…