Why the warm weather?

So a lot of people have been wondering about why today (and even yesterday) was so warm compared to recent temperatures. So I took this as a perfect opportunity to write about a simple type of weather pattern that I have recently learned about in my intro to meteorology class. Basically, what we have experienced is a mid-latitude cyclone. The name tells exactly what it is. It is a weather pattern that spins in a counter-clockwise direction (cyclonic direction) around an area of low pressure (the big, red L's you see on whether maps) in the mid and high latitudes. This type of weather pattern develops along a polar front which separates cold polar air and warm subtropical air. The convergence of these two different types of air causes a Low to develop. This, in turn, leads to the spinning of the system with a warm front on the right/bottom side, and a cold front on the left/upper side (see image "b- frontal wave" below). Rain showers typically form in front of the warm front and thunderstorms typically form along the cold front.

The warmth felt yesterday and today (depending on where you're located) is because the warm front pushed through and we are in a warm sector of air. Here, in Kentucky, today has been very windy and temperatures was at their highest this morning. This is because the cold front from the mid-latitude cyclone was pushing through.  Further south, in Georgia, the cold front is actually passing through as I type and with it will bring cooler temperatures along with it.

Eventually the mid-latitude cyclone will dissipate. Simply put, the cold front moves faster than the warm front, thus it eventually catches up to the warm front which cuts-off the cyclone.

This image shows the process of how a mid-latitude cyclone develops and dies. The more proper, meteorological term for this is cyclogenesis.

The image below shows more closely how the cold and warm front flows and the warm sector of air on the south side of the Low.

Some things that may help you understand a little bit better:
1) A cold front is the leading edge of a cold air mass. Typically, active weather forms along this front.
2) A warm front is the leading edge of a warm air mass.
3) A "Low" is where there is an area of lower pressure of air which basically means the air is less dense. Because the air is less dense, air flows toward, or converges, at the low pressure. The atmosphere likes to be in balance, so air typically flows from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure in order to balance the atmosphere out.

***My explanation is a very simplified version of what happens. Some of the information is not "technically" correct because atmospheric processes are very complicated and hard to explain with the little knowledge I have (and patience to type it all out).

I hope you learned something!