Record-breaking highs allow for fun in the sun in Springfield

Record-breaking temperatures provided an opportunity for Springfield residents to enjoy the sun Tuesday.

Temperatures reached at least 74 degrees by 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, a new record-high for Feb. 20, according to Storm Center 7 Chief Meteorologist Eric Elwell.

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Many in Springfield took the day to have some fun.

“It’s a nice day go out and enjoy with your family,” Thaddeus Williams said Tuesday while watching his kids play on the playground at Synder Park. “In February you need the sun because you hadn’t had it for a while. It’s been cloudy and gloomy. It’s nice to warm up and get out.”

Williams took four kids to the park so they can run around and play, he said.

“They are going crazy, it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

This is the third year in a row that the weather warmed up on Feb. 20. Last year, temperatures were nearly 67 degrees and in 2016 the temperature raised to 69 degrees.

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However, in 2015 the temperature plummeted to 8 degrees below 0.

Many children were seen running around the Snyder Park playground on Tuesday. A father-son duo took batting practice and a family admired the geese near the water at the park.

Buffy Packard, a grandmother of triplets, took her grandchildren to the park to take advantage of the sunny day.

“We are used to being in the house and in the cold so when days like this come we are going out,” she said. “There are few and far between.”

Days like Tuesday aren’t common in February in Ohio, she said.

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“It’s been cold and yucky and (the kids) need to be out and running their energy and today makes a great day for that,” Packard said.

The warm weather won’t last long. Temperatures Wednesday will start in the upper 50s or low 60s, Elwell said. Scattered showers and storms are likely during the first half of the day as temperatures drop through the day. Wintry mix or freezing rain is possible at night as it hits the 30s.

A wintry mix is likely Thursday morning as well with temperatures hitting the middle 40s during the day, Elwell said. Friday highs will likely reach the upper 50s.

The wintry mix will stick around Thursday morning and the highs will push into the middle 40s, Elwell said. It will likely warm up to the upper 50s on Friday.

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