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Actual high temperatures on Sept. 25, 2014.
When you think of 90-degree-plus record heat in late September, I'll bet Canada doesn't pop in your head first.

Contours of actual highs on Sept. 25, 2014 with record heat circled in Montana, North Dakota and southern Canada.

Highs Thursday soared into the 90s as far north as southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba, smashing daily temperature records.

Estevan, Saskatchewan topped out just under 94 degrees. The provincial capital of Regina had its warmest day of the year (91.6 degrees F or 33.1 degrees C). Eight other Canadian cities soared above 90 degrees in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Record highs were set as far north as Thompson, Manitoba (79.7F or 26.5C), just under 500 miles north of Winnipeg.

South of the border, both Williston, North Dakota, and Miles City, Montana (97), sweated through their record hottest day so late in the season, according to weather historian Christopher Burt and senior meteorologist Stu Ostro.

Rapid City, South Dakota (92), reached the 90s two weeks after their earliest snowfall on record.

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Contours of actual highs on Sept. 25, 2014 with record heat circled in Montana, North Dakota and southern Canada.
Interestingly, parts of Canada were hotter than locations in Texas and Florida.

Laredo, Texas, and Fort Myers, Florida, each topped out at 92 degrees, a tad cooler than Estevan, Saskatchewan, and Brandon, Manitoba (93.2F).

Jet-stream pattern leading to upside-down temperature regime.

This upside-down temperature pattern -- Canada warmer than Texas and Florida -- isn't nearly as uncommon as it sounds.

Quite often in the winter months, after an intrusion of Arctic air settles in the central and eastern U.S., the jet stream will buckle well northward into Alaska and western Canada.
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Jet-stream pattern leading to upside-down temperature regime.
Particularly when winds blow down the slopes of the Rockies, temperatures in the Canadian Prairies and U.S. High Plains can quickly become warmer than still shivering parts of the Gulf Coast and Florida.