00:01It's time for the forecast feed, and we're going to take you to the southwestern U.S.
00:05Instead of usually using the forecast feed to snip out snow opportunities in the northeast
00:11or sometimes tropical threats off the east coast, we're looking at a heat wave here
00:16that has been a huge headline in the southwest and into the plains at times,
00:20and we're trying to find an end to this, or at least a shift in the area that'll see the
00:26worst of the heat.
00:27And again, it's March, but we've been dealing with some tremendous records.
00:30I'm going to show you some monthly record highs that have been broken.
00:34Just incredible numbers here in many cases.
00:37Unprecedented March heat breaking monthly record highs in recent days.
00:42If we look back to late last week, Palm Springs, Friday 108 degrees.
00:46Phoenix breaking the monthly record and then repetitively doing so 105 Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
00:54Vegas hit 97 on Friday.
00:56We're going to be close today, not quite that warm, but close.
01:00And other areas here breaking monthly record highs.
01:03We did it late last week in Rapid City at 86.
01:06We outdid ourselves on Saturday at 87.
01:09Denver, 86 was your high on Saturday.
01:11That's a March record.
01:13We may break that and have our earliest 90 coming up on Wednesday.
01:18And in Flagstaff, the old record high for the month of March was 78.
01:21It was 76, I should say.
01:23It was 76.
01:24We broke that record by 8 degrees on Thursday at 84 up there in the high ground in northern Arizona.
01:29So pretty incredible stuff.
01:31Hey, I do want to take a look at the reservoirs because I know I think this is on a
01:34lot of people's minds in parts of the southwest.
01:38I know it's been dry.
01:39We had a quick end to the wet season, but we're doing okay with the reservoirs.
01:45The reservoirs are in pretty good shape.
01:46We've inherited relatively decent rain and snowfall in one and two and three wet seasons ago.
01:54And really, we did okay earlier this wet season, late in 2025, before the calendar flipped to 2026.
02:03And then we had a little burst of action in February, but man, it got dry so fast.
02:07And reservoirs are doing okay.
02:09Reservoirs are doing okay in California.
02:12But snowpack really struggling out there.
02:15This is from our friends at the California Department of Water Resources.
02:19Now, the data was last collected on Friday.
02:21They sometimes get a day off.
02:24But the northern Sierra snowpack really struggling, only at 16% of average.
02:31That is a big 84% shortfall, 38% of normal snowpack for this time of the year.
02:39We spiked with the numbers that were a bit better than this, obviously, before it got dry and warm.
02:44But in the southern Sierra, we're at 56% of normal for March.
02:49That's a weird way to draw a 6%, but 56% of normal for March 20th.
02:54So, again, significant shortcoming in snowpack.
02:58So, reservoirs are doing okay.
03:00But the payoff moving forward, at least in the northern Sierra, is going to be less than normal here,
03:04given less snow to melt away as we get into the wet season, or into the drier season and the
03:09warmer season.
03:09Hey, we're very dry out there this week, obviously.
03:12Last week was dry.
03:13This week is dry.
03:13Some areas have not seen rain for a month now in the southwest, and we're getting into the dry season
03:20for sure.
03:20So, here are some strong headlines for you.
03:23Many monthly records have fallen.
03:25Record heat this Monday, as we speak, is restricted to the southwest.
03:29We'll look at some candidates for record-breaking highs this afternoon.
03:33Pacific time, we're going to be peaking once again.
03:36But the expanding ridge is going to carry heat back into the plains on Wednesday.
03:39And the early end to the wet season is certainly bringing fire risk back into mind once again.
03:46It's also kind of torching some of the plant life out there.
03:50We've had a super bloom in some areas, but the heat and dryness that has really set in fast,
03:56not good for the bloom out there in areas near Death Valley.
03:59So, here are Monday's record-challenging highs.
04:02Keep in mind, the numbers on the right there, those are daily records for the date, specific to March 23rd.
04:08And we expect to break these records easily in Phoenix and Vegas.
04:11Sacramento should break a record high.
04:12Albuquerque should eek past the record.
04:14Flagstaff a record high.
04:15Not monthly records, but daily records.
04:17And I'm going to look at the models here in a minute.
04:19I just wanted to give you an idea of the heat kind of rebuilding the ridge,
04:24expanding Tuesday and Wednesday once again.
04:26So, I'm going to come back to the graphics at the very end of this here
04:30and look at a couple of seven-day forecasts.
04:31But here's the big picture.
04:33So, this is the temperature anomaly.
04:35How do the temperatures near the ground compare to normal?
04:39And, well, this Monday afternoon, Monday evening, we have a couple of features on the map here.
04:45We've got our cold front that's moving through parts of the Carolinas.
04:48Behind that, we're cooling down.
04:49But, man, no debate about it.
04:52Just record heat holding.
04:53A strong ridge of high pressure.
04:55Our storm track is diverted well to the north.
04:58And, again, really just a strong ridge across the west.
05:03What goes on with this in the days to come?
05:05Do we get any relief?
05:07Wednesday, Thursday, there it is, expanding into the plains.
05:10We're back in record territory this Wednesday.
05:13Wednesday evening, Wednesday afternoons, when Denver could break its monthly record.
05:16Again, we've compounded upon ourselves multiple times over here with some monthly records breaking a few times.
05:22But we may have our first 90, our earliest 90 on record in Denver on Wednesday.
05:27There it is.
05:27Temps way above average Friday, Saturday.
05:30You'll begin to notice we're still hot on Sunday.
05:33Let's go elsewhere.
05:34Let's go out into the Pacific and look way up at 300 millibars, the jet stream.
05:39And this is going to drive a change eventually.
05:42This is where we're going to find something that heralds change.
05:45But our ridge is still strong.
05:47There's Tuesday.
05:47It expands east.
05:48You can see the storm track diverted around that.
05:51But watch this.
05:53Watch this.
05:54Friday, Saturday.
05:55Here comes the storm system.
05:57It's not going to bring precip, but it will bring an onshore wind to California.
06:02Saturday, Sunday, Sunday especially, and Monday.
06:05And you see this?
06:06This onshore wind is going to be a game changer.
06:10Finally delivering some Pacific air to the southwest.
06:14It will displace the heat away from California later next week and carry it into the plains.
06:20So it's going to be hot in the plains or very warm for March in the northern plains later the
06:25second week.
06:26So midweek as April begins.
06:28But as we go back to the graphics here, just a quick look at Denver making its first 90 in
06:36history, earliest on record for Wednesday.
06:39And a quick look at Los Angeles.
06:40Here we're going to find a drop down into the upper 70s early next week.
06:44So that's your forecast feed.
06:45So that's your forecast feed.
06:45So that's your forecast feed.
06:45So that's your forecast feed.
06:45So that's your forecast feed.
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