A bit of springtime in January

A brief respite from winter's bitter chill known as a January thaw is not uncommon. But the weather much of the Midwest has experienced the last few days is more like a January scorcher.

Temperatures in some cities hit the upper 60s by midday Monday, and both Chicago and Toledo broke 101-year-old record-highs for the date. People caught up on yard work, took long walks on their lunch breaks and even traded boots for flip-flops.

"It's January Seventh, and I'm wearing a short-sleeved shirt," said David Gross, as he walked to his office in Chicago. "And I also need a tan -- that much is evident."

In Springfield, trash collector Rob Fagg said the warm weather made his job less cumbersome.

"I don't have to wear bulky clothes and push these containers through two inches of snow," Fagg, 43, said. "I can move more freely and people are much nicer when I block the street."

But the warm weather brought with it other spring-like attributes: Tornado were sighted or warned of in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.

Also, heavy rainfall was forecast for Monday night into Tuesday. The thunderstorms, combined with melted snowfall, prompted the weather service to issue flood warnings and watches for parts of the region experiencing warmer temperatures.

The warming trend, which started over the weekend, is attributable to a large high-pressure system sitting over the Southeast. That's allowing warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico area to travel up into the Midwest, said Andrew Krein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Romeoville, Ill.

"It's more like an early spring pattern than the middle of winter," he said.

Temperatures were expected to start falling Tuesday afternoon as a cold front begins moving eastward.

"Winter certainly isn't over. We're just getting a brief taste of spring before winter comes back," Krein said.

By about noon Monday, Chicago's temperature already had hit 64 degrees, breaking a previous record-high of 59 degrees set Jan. 7, 1907, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service said Carbondale saw a midday temperature of 67 degrees, Peoria of 65 degrees, Champaign of 66 degrees, Springfield of 67 degrees and Rockford of 61 degrees. Across the Mississippi River from Illinois, St. Louis was 71 degrees at midday, and cities across Indiana set new record-high temperatures as well.

In Toledo, Ohio, a 101-year-old record of 61 degrees was broken, as the mercury had climbed to 63 by noon. Youngstown and Columbus also set new record highs.

Some University of Toledo students strolled to class in T-shirts, flip-flops and shorts, though not Yawnnique White, who clung to her coat.

"This is college for you," she said. "They get warm, and people take all their clothes off, I guess."

In Chicago, balmy temperatures drew office worker Terrence Cribbs of Willowbrook outside to a plaza for a rare mid-day smoke break.

"It don't get no better than this, not in January," he said.

In Springfield, Pam Robinson, 53, Marti Doyle, 58, and Linda Bartlett, 65, walked through downtown on their lunch break.

The trio, dressed in business suits and athletic shoes, said they had taken a break from their 3½ mile trek in December when it became too cold and wet.

"We're fair-weather walkers," Doyle said with a smile.

Outside the Midwest, upstate New York experienced a warm spell as well -- with Buffalo setting a new record-high for Jan. 7. It was 59 degrees there in the afternoon, nearly double the average 31-degree temperature this time of year.

City crews filled potholes and cleaned trash from parks, drivers rolled down their windows and homeowners worked outside with rakes and brooms.

It was even warmer in Rochester and Syracuse, where temperatures were 60 and 64, respectively, at 3 p.m.

"You can't complain about this," said Kareem Bradley, who was dressed in a light coat as he delivered office supplies in downtown Syracuse, "but it would be a lot more enjoyable if I didn't know that we were still due for another 50 or 60 inches of snow this winter."

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Associated Press Writers Karen Hawkins in Chicago, Nguyen Huy Vu in Springfield, and Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.