Warmer Air Coming to Great Plains and Northeast by Mid-March

The upper Great Plains to the U.S. Northeast are expected to warm up by mid-March, according to forecasters.

Average temperatures may be 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 Celsius) above normal in those regions, which includes Chicago and New York, from March 10 to March 14 said Matt Rogers, president of Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland.

“With few exceptions here and there, the models are generally offering a very warm pattern for much of the U.S. and southern Canada over the next two weeks,” Rogers said in a note to clients.

Traders watch temperature predictions to gauge energy use and demand. About 51 percent of U.S. households use natural gas for heating, according to the Energy Department.

Forecasters are split about the location of warmer weather next week.

Rogers and MDA EarthSat Weather in Gaithersburg, Maryland, predict above-normal temperatures will take hold in the eastern U.S., with the warmest weather centered on Chicago and the Great Lakes, from March 5 to March 9.

Weather Derivatives’ David Salmon said he expects the East Coast to cool down, with temperatures dropping about 6 degrees below normal along the southern coast from March 6 to March 10.

The warmest air will be over the Great Plains, according to Salmon, located in Belton, Missouri.

The normal average temperature in New York for March 7 is about 40 degrees, according to MDA. It’s 36 in Boston, 41 in Philadelphia, 35 in Chicago, 43 in St. Louis, 56 in Dallas, 61 in Houston, 52 in Atlanta, 45 in Seattle and 58 in Burbank, California.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net