Blizzards. Tornados. Near-record warmth. Why the weather whiplash?

Doyle Rice, USA TODAY Mon, March 16, 2026 at 4:42 PM UTC

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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.

1 / 0Lightning, tornadoes and wild storms: See these incredible weather photosSurfers take advantage of the swells coming from Hurricane Erin into Wrightsville Beach around Crystal Pier on Aug. 19, 2025, in Wrightsville Beach, N.C.Why are we having these wild swings of weather in the East?

The wild swings in temperature across the East are thanks to an active storm track over the past few weeks, Travis explained.

"The wind direction surrounding these storms is able to pull warm air from the Gulf northward, leading to warmer than historical average conditions, and then bring cold air southward from Canada, leading to cooler than historical average conditions," she said.

The jet stream, the river of air above our heads that helps guide storms and air masses across the country, has been quite amplified in recent weeks, meteorologists told the .

Some recent scientific research has linked unusual jet stream and polar vortex activity to Arctic sea ice reductions and anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change.

What’s the forecast for the rest of the week in the East?

Following the line of severe weather and rain moving through the East Coast through Monday night, temperatures will drop significantly, leading to snowfall across parts of New York and Pennsylvania Monday and early Tuesday.

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High temperatures across the East on Tuesday afternoon are forecast to be 15-25 degrees lower than that on Monday afternoon.

"The southeastern US is expected to be mostly dry for the remainder of the week, but another quick clipper or two is forecast to move across the Midwest and Northeast this week, bringing showers and perhaps a few more snowflakes," Travis said.

Just 24 hours after record-breaking warmth, temperatures plummeted 40 - 50 degrees, with rain changing to snow across parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.What's going on in the West?

A strengthening heat dome will send temperatures soaring into the 90s and past 100 degrees across the Southwest, threatening records, accelerating snowmelt and raising wildfire risk now, then water supply concerns later, AccuWeather warned.

High temperatures will be some 20 to 30 degrees above normal, the National Weather Service said. Some locations could reach all-time high temperatures for the month of March, especially Phoenix, Las Vegas, Sacramento, and San Jose.

Parts of the Desert Southwest may experience their earliest 100-degree temperature on record.

Heat stays in the western half of US

"The large-scale weather pattern across the country will keep most of the heat locked up across the western half of the country through late in the month," said AccuWeather meteorologist Renee Duff in an email to USA TODAY.

Overall, she said the pattern through the first week of April is likely to be cool and wet in the East, while remaining warm and dry in the interior Southwest.

"A slower transition to persistent spring warmth can occur from the northern Rockies to the Northeast," AccuWeather long-range expert Paul Pastelok told USA TODAY.

Doyle Rice is a national correspondent for USA TODAY, with a focus on weather and climate.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Severe weather, wild temperature swings hit US

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