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Record-setting warmth to continue
Photo
With the unseasonably warm weather, Parker Larson, 22 months, and his mother, Courtney, spent time at Fair Park in Canfield enjoying the outdoors. It’s expected to be near 80 degrees today.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
skolnick@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
This month is one for the Mahoning Valley weather record books.
It’s also been an exceptionally mild wintertime for the area.
Three of the past four days have broken records for being the warmest March 17, 18 and 20 in the area.
And we’re not done yet.
The National Weather Service predicts today’s high to be around 80 degrees. The previous record for warmest March 21 was 70 degrees in 1948.
Also, the forecast calls for the temperature to reach the upper 70s on Thursday. The high for March 22 is 75 degrees, set in 1938.
It will drop into the mid-70s on Friday, so the record for March 23 of 82 degrees, also in 1938, appears safe.
Also, between March 14 and this Friday, if the forecast is correct, all 10 days will hit at least 70 degrees for a high.
“It’s not usual weather,” said Martin Thompson, a hydrometeorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland. “We usually don’t see it this warm that many days in a row this early in the year.”
As of Monday, the average temperature for March was 47.6 degrees, and the temperature, on average, rises about 4 degrees between Tuesday and the end of the month.
The average temperature for the entire month of March in the Valley is 36.7 degrees, according to National Weather Service data.
The warmest March on record was 1946 with an average temperature of 48.1 degrees.
The forecast for Saturday calls for a high in the mid-60s. The typical high for that date is 50 degrees.
Every month between November 2011 and this past February has been about 5 degrees warmer than normal.
Except for January, all months since November have been among the top 10 warmest for those months.
The weather service has temperature records for the Mahoning Valley dating back to 1897.
The area’s official weather recording location is the Youngstown Warren Regional Airport in Vienna.