No Akronite ever before experienced a Jan. 11 as warm as Saturday, when temperatures climbed to 71 degrees.

The unseasonable warmth smashed Akron’s previous record-high temperature for Jan. 11 — 63 degrees — set in 1890, eight years before Goodyear opened its first factory in what would come to be known as The Rubber City.

The spring-like day was discombobulating for those accustomed to January snow and cold.

Skiers were stymied as both Boston Mills and Brandywine remained closed for a second day in the melt.

Beer drinkers traded their parkas for hoodies at Lock 3’s annual indoor/outdoor Cottage Crawl of local beer tasting.

And a woozy yellow jacket wasp wandered away from its hive, turning up on a glittering artificial snowman in the front yard of a Medina family, apparently not realizing that springtime was still more than two months away.

For the last three weeks, cold and snow have eluded most of the Lower 48 states.

Indications are strong that chillier weather will make an appearance in late January. But it's unclear whether severe and sustained winter conditions will ever take hold again this year across the country, The Washington Post reported.

Two things are at play, weather scientists say.

The polar vortex — the zone of frigid air in the high latitudes surrounded by powerful winds — has been unusually strong, causing the warmth across the U.S., said Judah Cohen, a meteorologist at Atmospheric Environmental Research.

When the polar vortex is intense, the coldest air over the northern hemisphere remains bottled up in the Arctic. Conversely, enduring cold snaps usually only overtake the Lower 48 when the vortex is substantially weakened, stretched or split apart.

In addition to the polar vortex, the so-called "cold pool" over the northern hemisphere, which is indicated by temperatures of 23 degrees or lower a mile above the ground, ranks as the smallest on record for December and early January, according to Jonathan Martin, a professor of meteorology at the University of Wisconsin.

Winters that begin with small cold pools often end up the same way. Martin's research has shown the size of the northern hemisphere cold pool shrinking over time, an indicator of climate change.

Yet some winter weather still may happen.

"There is some elongation of the polar vortex going on," Cohen said, which might help unlock some cold air later this month into early February.

But he noted "it's not an impressive weakening event" that would lead to more sustained and severe winter weather.

More immediately in Akron, after a stormy and windy Saturday night, Sunday’s temperatures will moderate.

The National Weather Service office in Cleveland issued a severe wind warning for Greater Akron from midnight until 6 a.m Sunday. Damaging winds were expected to topple some trees and take down some power lines as a weather front moved through.

After the winds pass, the high temperature in Akron on Sunday is expected to be 40 degrees, a 31-degree plunge from the spring-like highs the day before.

The Washington Post contributed to this report. Reach Amanda Garrett at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter @agarrettABJ.