WEATHER: March opening with warming for late winter

There’s still weeks left on the calendar for Old Man Winter to hang around, but it looks like he’s taking an early exit – at least for the opening of March.

A warming trend will impact every state in the nation – including Alaska – with above average temperatures through next week, per the National Weather Service’s predictions as of Friday night’s time of writing for this forecast.

Near term, that warming trend kicks off over the weekend after a wet end to February around the area. NWS Peachtree City has highs in the 60s and low 70s for the region on Saturday and up into the mid 70s for the areas closer to the metro area on Sunday, but lows will still be in the 30s and 40s overnight as skies remain clear during the upcoming days.

Northwest Georgia in specific will definitely feel the warming trend as highs reach into low to mid 70s through the weekend and into the start of the coming week, with the thermometer heading toward record highs by the end of next week as some spots in the region get up into the 80s March 5 and 6. Lows are expected in the 40s and 50s range through the upcoming week as well.

Record highs are forecasted to last well into the second week of the forthcoming month, and it’ll be Wednesday the 11th before any significant changes in the thermometer are expected.

Changes in the jet stream and a weaking La Nina are causing the sudden warmup for March, but like all things weather-related in Georgia no one should expect the fun to last forever.

Shower chances will begin increasing through the second week of March for Northwest Georgia and bring the thermometer down in the area back into the 70s range heading into St. Patrick’s Day.

Summer-like temperatures could be in the forecast for portions of the west.