Weather whiplash expected for millions across US with some places seeing 90-degree temperature swing

Major spring thaw to send temperatures above average to finish February

Cities that saw temperatures plunge below freezing will see above average readings to start the final workweek of February. 

After shivering through below-average temperatures, nearly 75% of all Americans will soon have a chance to warm up with above-average temperatures arriving next week.

Compared to the far below-zero low temperatures this week, high temperatures next week will be 70-90 degrees warmer in some places, according to the FOX Forecast Center.

"We’re going to see the return to what may be a late February pattern you would more commonly think would appear as we kind of say ‘Hello’ to March," said FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen Morgan.

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Some of the cities that will see the most extreme temperature changes are located as far north as North Dakota and as far south as Texas.

For example, while Dallas had a temperature of 13 degrees Thursday morning, temperatures there will rise into the low 70s by Monday – a difference of more than 50 degrees.

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In the central U.S., temperatures in Wichita, Kansas, dropped to -7 degrees Thursday morning. On Monday, temps will rise nearly 70 degrees to highs in the low 60s.

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Perhaps one of the more extreme examples of a temperature difference will be seen in Hettinger, North Dakota.

There, temperatures dipped to -45 degrees Wednesday morning. Come Monday, temperatures will be near 50 degrees – a difference of about 90 degrees.

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This weather whiplash will be the result of mild air from the North Pacific pushing out the frigid air that dipped down from the Arctic, the culprit behind the brutally cold temperatures of this week.

Warmer temperatures will first arrive for Americans out West on Saturday, while the rest of the country will be experiencing the last gasp of the Arctic air.

FILE: A man wearing shorts while standing next to a pile of snow.

(Spencer Platt / FOX Weather)

The warmer temperatures will then march eastward through the Midwest and central U.S. by early next week. The FOX Forecast Center said most locations west of the Mississippi River will warm 10-25 degrees above average.

This means that the temperatures in the southern Plains will rise back into the 70s, while those in the region between the central Plains and the mid-South will rise up into the 60s.

Up north, temperatures between the northern Plains and the Great Lakes will jump up to the 40s and 50s.