Last week temperatures across west central Iowa were way above normal for March and as this week has already shown, everything can change on a daily basis.

According to the National Weather Service, Jefferson, Guthrie Center and Perry each had a record high on March 11th, including Jefferson and Perry at 75 degrees and Guthrie Center at 76. On March 10th, each community was in the lower 70s. Weatherology Meteorologist Derrek Dalman tells Raccoon Valley Radio the factors that led to such unseasonably warmer temperatures for March.

“An upper level ridge of higher pressure and secondly, a very strong warm front that basically set north of the area for a good portion of the week. That allowed for some breezy southerly winds and some southerly flow at the surface to bring in some warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico right into our area, giving us those very nice warm temperatures into the 70s.”

Dalman notes the average normal temperature for this time of year is around 47 degrees, but there is always a change in the climate during the Spring Equinox, which is March 20th.

“Typically we kind of run into a transition period. So we may have a couple of weeks there like right around normal – in this case in the upper 40s – we may have a couple of weeks that spike up into the 60s and 70s. It’s just trying to get that equilibrium to where we have steady spring-like temperatures into the 60s and 70s here.”

Dalman anticipates temperatures coming back into the 60s and 70s by next week.