After the freeze has gripped much of the US, a warm respite beckons

In Dallas, where temperatures dipped to 10 degrees last week, highs were forecast to reach 60 degrees on Wednesday. In New York City, where the low dropped to 17 degrees on Wednesday, unusually high temperatures in the 50s were expected on Thursday. And in St. Louis, which was covered in ice Monday, a high of 50 was expected Wednesday.

Forget climate change. That's climate whiplash.

It can be disorienting, but for many it is not unwelcome. Sitting in a frigid Bryant Park in New York City, Adia Rafio, 26, of Queens, said Monday that she was considering making outdoor plans later this week.

“I'm definitely going to take advantage of it,” she said as workers shoveled snow and ice nearby. “Winter is really hibernating now.”

After a blast of Arctic air gripped much of the country last week, much of the United States was expecting significantly warmer weather in the coming days, according to forecasters.

Some cities could see temperature swings of more than 50 degrees. In Little Rock, Ark., which dropped as much as 1 degree on Wednesday, temperatures were expected to rise into the 50s on Tuesday and the 60s on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Cities in the Northeast, including New York and Washington, would see highs of about 10 to 15 degrees above normal, according to the Weather Service.

With that warmer weather, many outdoor spaces prepared for more visitors, who may have been tired of huddled indoors to stay out of the cold. Jim Breheny, director of the Bronx Zoo, said more visitors are expected later this week as temperatures rise.

“With temperatures about to change from frigid to slightly warmer, it's likely that more New Yorkers will experience cabin fever and even more will want to come to our parks,” he said.

The source of last week's frigid weather was a large mass of Arctic air stretching from the northeast to the south, said Michael Musher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“It was the first real Arctic air mass of the winter season,” he said.

The brutally cold weather was responsible for the deaths of at least 72 people who died from weather-related causes such as hypothermia. The cold snap also broke at least 15 low temperature records across the country, according to the Weather Service.

That Arctic air mass has since moved offshore, ushering in warmer weather for much of the country that could last for about two weeks for “almost three-quarters of the country,” Mr. Musher said.

“There's not a whole lot of cold air,” he said. “There's a pretty warm anomaly.”

Jackie Wallace, a spokeswoman for the Houston Zoo, said the 55-acre park expected more visitors this week as the weather improves. After dropping to 60 degrees on Jan. 16, temperatures in Houston rose into the 60s Monday, albeit with rain in the area, the Weather Service said.

“Once we get past the heavy rains currently coming through Houston, we expect to see an increase in visitors,” Ms. Wallace said.

Bryant Park officials said they also expected more visitors as the weather warmed. On milder days, as many as 1,900 people are in the park during peak hours. On Jan. 16, when temperatures in New York did not rise above freezing, there were fewer than 100 people in the park as of 1 p.m., park officials said.

While the temperature increase was welcome news for many who had grown tired of cold weather, Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations at the Weather Prediction Center, said such a change in weather could cause problems such as potholes and flooding from ice. The ice breaks loose, becomes stuck and piles up, creating a temporary dam.

However, in some regions the reprieve from the frigid weather may be short-lived. After forecast highs in the 50s later this week, temperatures in New York City could fall back to the 30s by Sunday, according to the Weather Service.

Still, Mr Musher said the colder weather was expected to be a brief “look at Arctic Air” in the Northeast.

“The general trend is that there are a few mild weeks ahead for most of the U.S.,” he said.

But more frigid spells could come before the end of winter, forecasters say.

“It's not over yet,” Mr. Carbin said, adding that the cold air in the Arctic was “far from being used up.”