50° temps have been reached, now onto 60°

SOUTH BEND, IN -  We lost an hour by shifting the clocks on Sunday for Daylight Saving Time, but the clocks were not the only ones that sprung forward.  High temperatures on Monday sprung into the lower 50s, which makes it the first day of the new year that we have reached this milestone.  Now that the sunshine has melted most of the snow and this warmer air mass has been conveniently parked over Michiana, many are now wondering when we will hit that next milestone -- 60°.

Well, thankfully we were curious about that question as well and we've looked through the statistics, dating all the way back to 1893, to find the answers.  The earliest date that we've hit 60° was January 2nd, 2004.  Meanwhile, it took a little longer to reach that milestone in 1970, which holds the latest date in the year of April 8th.  Over the 122 years of data, the average first day of 60° weather was February 28th, making this year just a little later than average.

While we were combing through the the years of data, we also looked up the earliest, latest, and average date for 70° temperatures, too.  These facts can be found in Fig. 2. 

These numbers and dates are based off of 122 years of data, but if you want to find out the first day this year that we see 60° or 70°, stay tuned to ABC57 News on the air and online here for the latest forecast.