Record high temperatures throughout the lower 48 states this week

• Forecasters predicted the average temperature for the Lower 48 states would reach a balmy 59 degrees on Wednesday
•  A meteorologist say you would have to go back three decades to find a February day as warm
• There have been over 2,800 record highs recorded throughout US this month
• Change most extreme in Midwest, where Chicago is seeing 70-degree days
• Record highs or near-record highs also recorded in Wisconsin and Detroit

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Cities and towns across the continental US have recorded 2,805 record high temperatures so far in February.

On Sunday, the barometer read 70 degrees in Chicago – making it just the fourth time the city has been that warm at this time of year since 1871.

The warm days are threatening the all-time high temperature Chicago in February – 75 degrees, which was recorded on February 27, 1976.

Record or near-record warmth has also been recorded in other towns in the Midwest, including Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Omaha, Minneapolis, and Detroit.