Coast-to-coast warm weather in the forecast. But when will it arrive?
Coast-to-coast warm weather in the forecast. But when will it arrive?
Doyle Rice, USA TODAYSat, April 4, 2026 at 10:03 AM UTC
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Now that April is here, we can certainly put all talk of Arctic air to bed, right?
Not quite so fast.
A potent cold front — with origins in the Canadian Arctic — is forecast to sweep across much of the central and eastern U.S. on Easter Sunday, April 5, putting a temporary end to the recent warm spell. Though the front will set up a cool stretch of weather for the East, warm-weather fans can rejoice knowing that the cool weather should be relatively short-lived.
Indeed, the forecast for the U.S. is "coast-to-coast" warmth for the April 9-15 period.
Overall, the forecast for April is for above-average temperatures for much of the United States, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said in a forecast released March 31.
In Texas, for example, the National Weather Service said that "chances lean towards our streak of warmer than average months continuing into April."
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Weather forecast for early April
In the East, April should continue the recent typical springtime trend of alternating between warm and cool weather, similar to what was seen in March, but not as extreme. But the overall forecast is for a warm month for much of the nation.
First, a warm Easter Sunday morning is in store for the eastern seaboard before the cold front comes through, bringing a band of heavy rain and thunderstorms that will move from the Appalachians to the Atlantic Coast. This front will usher in chillier temperatures that are generally slightly below average across parts of the central to eastern United States through the first half of the week of April 5, NOAA's Weather Prediction Center said in an online forecast.
For example, in Pittsburgh, highs on Sunday, April 5, in the 80s will be followed by highs in the 50s.
A large area of high pressure will follow the front. It's definitely a "cold" high, rather than a "warm" high, forecasters said.
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"The high pressure area ... has its origins in the North Pacific and southern Canada, so that high is a lot different than the 'homebrew high' that set up the heat dome in the West for 2 weeks recently," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski explained in an e-mail to USA TODAY.
Forecast says warm again, cool again
The high will then take up residence in the Southeast states. The week of April 5 will be cool to start, then should slowly be modified by April sunshine, Sosnowski said. "While we should get to record high levels of warmth after many days, it should not be near the punch in scope and magnitude of the conditions from the West," he added.
Overall, Sosnowski predicts that a gradual warmup is forecast in most cases after a cool start to the week.
"Probably 12 of the first 15 days of April will bring temperatures well above the historical average for the interior Southeast, mid-Atlantic and central Gulf Coast states," AccuWeather lead long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok said in an online forecast.
Cool ocean breezes may hold back temperatures along parts of the southern Atlantic coast on some days, he said.
"The warm wedge will be the result of an atmospheric traffic jam that develops from the Atlantic to the Gulf Coast," Pastelok explained. "Then, as a large storm forms over central and eastern Canada around the 15th of the month, much cooler air will likely sweep in."
The national temperature forecast map for April shows above-average temperatures are expected from coast to coast. Only the northern tier favors equal chances of above, near, and below-normal temperatures.West will be warm, too
For the early part of the week, thanks to a ridge of high pressure, the West can expect above-average temperatures that are as much as 10 to 20 degrees above average, the Weather Prediction Center said. "Above normal temperatures should spread into the High Plains by Tuesday [April 7] and gradually farther east Wednesday [April 8] and Thursday [April 9] as the ridge pushes east," the center said.
The ongoing warmth is more bad news for the precipitation-starved West, where snowpack is well below normal, and in some places confined to just the highest elevations, the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) added.
"Gradual melting of accumulated winter snowpack throughout the spring and summer months is a critical component of the water budget of the West," the WPC said. "The below-normal snowpack this past winter therefore places additional stress on alternate water supplies such as reservoirs and groundwater sources."
Doyle Rice is a national correspondent with USA TODAY, focusing on weather and climate.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coast-to-coast warm weather lurks in April forecast. But when?
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