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People who have a hard time understanding how weather moves across the country from west to east should only look at east coast vs. west coast weather this week and weekend.  Last week and into early this week, the western U.S., particularly in California, was in the grip of an early spring heat wave.  Temperatures in Los Angeles were in the upper 80's, which is unusually warm for this time of year.  At the same time, here in Connecticut, we were looking at temperatures in the 50's for most of the early part of the week.

The upcoming weekend promises a reverse of those conditions.  Here in Connecticut, record-high temperatures are possible, as the mercury on both Saturday and Sunday will rise into the upper 80's.  Only those regions near the coastal waters will escape the extreme heat, as cool water temperatures act to keep temperatures lower as a sea breeze develops both days.  On the left coast, however, things will swing back to a slightly below normal condition, as temperatures in southern California will return to the mid to upper 60's.

The hot weather will not help firefighters in South Carolina who are fighting a major wildfire in the North Myrtle Beach area.  Conditions have been very dry, and some of the expensive homes and golf courses around Myrtle Beach have been threatened.  At least 69 homes have been destroyed as of this writing, and more are under the gun.