Extremely warm temperatures were observed across the entire Northwest, which broke multiple daily and monthly heat records.

SPOKANE, Wash.–  Extremely warm temperatures were observed across the entire Northwest, which broke multiple daily and monthly heat records. Spokane came within a single degree of breaking the all-time December high temperature for the city at 59 degrees. The previous December 1 record was 57. Average highs in early December are in the upper 30s.

Daily records for December 1 were also set in Lewiston and Pullman. Monthly records were set in Ephrata, Wenatchee, and Omak. Gust winds that warmed the air as they descended the Cascade Mountains pumped up temperatures from the Okanogan Valley downriver to the Tri-Cities into the 70s.

Unusually warm weather was common everywhere west of the Mississippi River on Wednesday. The same winds and warmth that helped driver the heat in the Inland Northwest led to shocking temperatures across Montana, over 30 degrees above average. Temperatures from Spokane to California to the Gulf Coast were far close to each other than one would expect for the beginning of the winter season. Meteorological winter begins December 1, which lines up better with the coldest weather of the year in the Lower 48 states than the late December-early March astronomical winter. Of course, winter is going to come around soon enough. Colder weather will settle back into the Northwest during this weekend.

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