March 13, 2012

Boaters are cruising along the river in downtown Chicago. Golfers are smacking balls in Minnesota.

And an ice-breaking mission on Maine's Kennebec River was the
shortest in recent memory because the Coast Guard found no ice.

Clear skies and temperatures in the 70s graced areas from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast on Tuesday where residents
are normally bundled up against cold March weather.

Forecasters say spring is early and here to stay.

Gino Izzi of the National Weather Service says the weather pattern is a random, normal fluctuation. A jet stream moving north to south on the West Coast is pushing an opposite, seesaw effect in the rest of the nation.

But the warm weather was raising concerns, including a high risk
for wildfires in the Dakotas.