A tale of two Great Falls: In the US, weather extremes rule

Great Falls is scorching hot.

Great Falls is frigid.

During a week of weather extremes in the U.S., it all depends on which Great Falls the mercury is measured. 

In Great Falls, Virginia, Luke Mraz, lugged a 100-pound hose around a golf course, spraying pond water over several acres of dry grass as the temperature climbed to 92 degrees.

"It feels like the moisture is literally just getting sucked right out of your body," the 27-year-old said.

In Great Falls, Montana, a 127-year-old record for cold fell with temperatures reaching 45 degrees, according to the local National Weather Service office. A freak June mountain snowstorm even enticed a few skiers up to Showdown, the local ski hill.

“After a less-than-typical snowfall year, we’re welcoming the moisture,” said Avery Patrick, one of the resort's owners. 

Weather across the USA in mid-June has been full of wild temperature swings, with a heat wave in the Northeast driving highs into the 90s and a snowy weather system sweeping across the northern Rockies plunging lows down to 22 degrees in Eureka, Nevada.

The South is sweltering and the Northwest nippy. The National Weather Service warned of severe heat and thunderstorms across the Mississippi Valley and Central Plains, contrasting with frost advisories in North Dakota and record cold in parts of Nevada and Montana.

As roughly 80 million people from Indiana to New England roasted under a heat advisory or excessive heat warning, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul activated the state's Emergency Operations Center in response to high temperatures expected to last until the weekend.

"This is a deadly event," Hochul said, one day after the city of Syracuse hit 94 degrees, topping a record from 1994. "We have seen blizzards, we have seen flooding, we had hurricanes, we had tornadoes. But this heat event is most likely to cause more deaths."

Chicago registered 97 degrees Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Monday, breaking a record 96 degrees set in 1957. Temperatures hovered around 91 degrees on Tuesday with the heat index, which factors in temperature and humidity to measure how hot it feels, touching 95.

Heat advisories are in effect from the Midwest to the northern tip of Maine. Cold warnings are in effect through parts of the Central U.S. and Northwest.

Drive a few states away in any direction, you'll likely run into much different temperatures.

Is climate change to blame?

Detroit and Philadelphia, as well as cities in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine also are due for record temperatures in the coming days, said NWS meteorologist Marc Chenard.

Hundreds of communities across the U.S. have faced severe weather conditions this week. The Upper Plains region was struck with heavy thunderstorms as the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana braced for a tropical rainstorm. Meanwhile, dry conditions fueled wildfires across California and New Mexico, burning thousands of acres of land and even threatening California's famous vineyards.

While it is too soon to say if the heat is driven by climate change, this heat wave is occurring earlier in the year than the historical average. Central Maine is running 30 degrees above average, he said.

"It's kind of early in the season to be getting this long of a duration of heat wave for the Ohio Valley and New England," Chenard said, adding that it was dangerous because people were not prepared.

New York state will open its beaches and public pools early, in time for people to enjoy them over the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday. Under its heat emergency plan, New York City is opening its cooling centers for the first time this year.

Hot and cold, dry and wet

Some are taking the weather in stride.

"It's just Montana," said Michele Fliginger, a retiree living in Belt, a town of a few hundred people. Despite the cold, she said her summer camping trip is still a go this weekend. The frigid cold in Montana is expected to last at least through Wednesday morning before rising into the 80s and 90s this weekend.

For others, there's concern. "This would be very normal for August, but not June," said Roger West, a 12-year resident of Great Falls, Virginia, a small enclave about 20 miles northwest of Washington D.C. "It's going to be a long summer if it stays like this."

Residents of both Great Falls are seeking shelter indoors - but for opposite reasons. Some want to get out of the cold and others want to get out of the heat.

West said he showered twice by 2 p.m. Tuesday. Instead of spending hours working on the old muscle cars in his garage – a hobby he picked up in retirement – he could only work 20 minutes before fatigue set in.

“I’ve been using a lot of water,” he said.

Contributing: Reuters