Blazing heat makes polar votex a distant memory

The numbing cold of the polar vortex is history. Now, a large swath of the USA has searing heat to contend with.

Record-breaking high temperatures are sweeping across the Midwest and headed east. Kansas, which saw snow just three weeks ago, now is facing 100-degree weather.

"Some folks experiencing this heat did not leave winter very far behind," acknowledged National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Hirsch in Kansas City, Mo. "Winter has been long and brutal here."

As the heat eases, violent storms and tornadoes are possible from Texas and Oklahoma to Colorado and even the Great Lakes region, he said. As the heat slides east, he said, Virginia will see the 90s, Pennsylvania the 80s by Friday.

"If it seems early for this kind of heat, that's because it is," The Weather Channel's Nick Wiltgen said. "A few cities are exceeding key temperature thresholds earlier than they ever have before in over 100 years of weather records."

Residents of Wichita were getting relief Wednesday — in the form of 94 degrees. On Sunday, the city recorded its earliest 100-degree day in history, Wiltgen said. It snowed there April 14.

Oklahoma City and Abilene, Texas, were among other cities breaking records. And Witgen noted that Wichita Falls, Texas, claimed the dubious honor of reaching a record high for May 5 of 102 degrees — four days after hitting a record low for the month of May of 35 degrees.

"It's really a dynamic weather pattern this spring," Hirsch said. "We are talking about 100 degrees while there still is ice on the Great Lakes."

More heat records are poised to fall. Temperatures Wednesday will be about 5 to 15 degrees above average across much of the Midwest and Southeast, with many readings well into the 80s and even some low 90s forecast. AccuWeather predicts record heat is possible in Oklahoma City, Wichita, Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis and Des Moines, where temperatures are all forecast to be near or above 90 degrees.

On Thursday, as the heat heads into the East, Raleigh may see its first 90-degree-plus day of 2014, close to its long-term average of its first 90-degree date of May 10, The Weather Channel reports.

The heat will ease for most locations by Friday, except for eastern portions of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.