Northeast facing bitter cold, Southwest record heat this Thanksgiving

ByDANIEL MANZO ABCNews logo
Thursday, November 23, 2017

The majority of the nation will be enjoying a quiet and tranquil Thanksgiving with sunshine spreading across nearly the entire nation -- including the Southwest, the Great Plains, the Midwest, a large portion of the Ohio Valley and the major I-95 corridor cities in the Northeast.

This quiet weather pattern across a large portion of the nation is actually notable -- this time of year can be quite turbulent with significant winter storm threats.

There are only a couple of notable weather headlines to highlight including record heat in the Southwest, cold in the Northeast and more rain for the Northwest.

Bitter wind chills

In the Northeast, it will be a seasonably chilly start to Thanksgiving. For those heading out to events on Thanksgiving morning it will feel like the 20s in many of the Northeast cities.

It will also be quite chilly in parts of the south this morning with wind chills in the 20s all the way down to Alabama and Mississippi.

Broiling hot Thanksgiving

A warm and mild weather pattern is bringing hot temperatures to parts of the Southwest.

Notable records from Wednesday:

Los Angeles - 93 degrees F (Previous 89 degrees F in 1950)

Long Beach Airport, Calif. - 96 degrees F (Previous 88 degrees F in 2015)

Palm Springs, Calif. - 96 degrees F (Previous 93 degrees F in 1933)

El Cajon, Calif. - 98 degrees F (Previous 92 degrees F in 2002)

Anaheim, California was the hottest location in the nation on Wednesday, with a high temperature of 100 degrees.

The mild weather has also been stretching north and east into the mountains and Pacific Northwest. It was nearly 70 degrees in Seattle on Wednesday.

It will be in the upper 80s Thursday across the Arizona deserts, and in the 90s in parts of Southern California. Downtown Los Angeles is forecast to be 90 degrees Thursday. It will be one of the warmest Thanksgivings on record in Southern California. Several daily records will be possible, including Phoenix and Los Angeles.

The heat will slowly ease through the holiday weekend, with the chance for records diminishing each day.

Northwest storm moving in

Heavy rains over the past few days in the Seattle area will continue on Thursday.

First responders rescued a few people in Snohomish County, Washington on Wednesday as flood waters stranded some drivers on roads in the county. Some rivers remain in minor to moderate flood stage Thanksgiving morning due to excessive rain over the past few days.

Another system is moving into the Northwest Thursday morning and it will bring more rain to parts of Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Area river flooding is possible through the next few days as an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain is expected. A flood watch remains in effect for parts of the region through Thanksgiving afternoon. There is an isolated threat of landslides in the region due to saturated soils.

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