A big pattern change will bring spring-like temps surging back into the Region after this brief, unseasonably cold airmass. Every year we talk about flipping the switch–some springs take longer than others–but it finally looks like we’ll switch over to a much warmer, spring-like pattern by the middle of next week.

Take a look at the projected low temps tonight. Freeze warnings and Frost Advisories cover a large portion of the eastern US. This looks more like a map from January:

The overall pattern has a large dip in the jetstream in the east allowing a lobe of the polar vortex to make it all the way south. That’s the only way we get this cold in May:

Here’s the switch as we go into next week–the lobe of cold actually rotates back north and west, bringing our flow out of the southwest–that’s our pattern change and it will be about as dramatic as it gets this time of year:

The result is a much warmer eastern and central US. Look at the warmth late next week all the way into southern Canada:

Locally this is what the numbers look like from a distance:

The big question I’m sure many of you are asking: will it last?

We think so. A preliminary look at the rest of May would keep us with a warmer trend overall as the flow remains out of the west or southwest. We’ll still see a cooler day or two in the mix, but the overall pattern looks NOTHING like what we’ve seen the last 3 weeks with a constant dose of northwest air from Canada.

I think we’ll all be enjoying the outdoors come a week from now!