In the United States, we are used to wild temperature swings. It can be 20 one day, 60 the next, then back to 20. These are far from rare, but how about what we experienced this past week? On Thursday, February 20, Omaha woke up to a bone-chilling -15 degrees. By Monday, February 24, you could ditch the jacket as temperatures soared to 66 degrees. An 81 degree difference, but is this out of the ordinary?
The short answer: yes! Looking back at data for Omaha, available since 1871, the 5-day swing of 81 degrees is tied for the 2nd largest temperature climb on record! Truly a remarkable stat.
As for #1, it was back in 1981 when Omaha went from a frostbite-inducing -20 degrees on February 11 to a balmy 66 on February 16!
Here are the other big temperature upswings:
Feb 11-16, 1981 | -20 to 66 | 86 degrees
Feb 20-24, 2025 | -15 to 66 | 81 degrees
Feb 25-Mar 2, 2022 | -1 to 79 | 81 degrees
Feb 11-15, 1899 | -26 to 52 | 78 degrees
Feb 20-23, 1918 | -11 to 67 | 78 degrees
So whether you enjoyed the -15 or the 66, there was a little bit of weather for everybody over the past 120 hours!
