'Unprecedented' Warm Climate Expected To Continue

A meteorologist from the Climate Prediction Center called this week’s rise in temperatures across the United States an “unprecedented event” and expects the warmer climate to continue throughout the spring months in a teleconference Thursday afternoon.

“It’s likely that we will continue to see above average temperatures for the lower 48 through the reminder of the spring, but not on average at record-breaking levels,” Ed O’Lenic, of the Climate Prediction Center, said. “The climate conditions forecast calls for above average temperatures in April, May, and June.” 

Record high temperatures were broken in 189 cities and towns across America on Wednesday, reaching up to 35 degrees above normal, Laura Furgione of the National Weather Service said. 

The country has seen a sudden and sharp rise in temperatures in many areas east of the Rockies and forecasts remain mild into next week, Furgione, the deputy director of NWS, said.

O’Lenic added that temperatures for the East Coast, particularly around the Washington D.C.-area, will continue to be higher than normal for the foreseeable future.

While droughts have been an issue in various parts of the country including Texas and the Southeast, Maryland’s water supplies are normal, a spokesperson for the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin told Patch. 

“Even if we were to experience a drought this summer in the metropolitan area that was as bad as anything that’s been recorded historically, the storm water would be able to meet the demands of the Washington metropolitan area without restrictions,” Curtis Dalpa said.

The Jennings Randolph Lake in Garrett County, which serves as the major water storage reservoir for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, is nearly full, Dalpa said, adding that there is currently a low probability that any releases would need to be made from the Jennings Randolph this year.