Story highlights According to one report, the North Pole temperature was about 33 degrees F; the usual high is -10

Two strong systems are pulling air from the south, causing the spike

(CNN) The North Pole is getting a taste of the warm late-December temperatures that have caused such havoc in the United States.

Thanks to the same low-pressure system that produced blizzards in New Mexico, tornadoes in Texas and flooding in Missouri, the North Pole was about 40 degrees above the seasonal average high on Wednesday, according to the Washington Post's weather team.

The Post's Capital Weather Gang examined buoy data from near the North Pole and reported a record high temperature of 33 degrees Fahrenheit.

It wasn't close to the 40 degrees Fahrenheit forecast in some estimates, but it was substantially warmer than the usual late-December highs of -10 degrees F.

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