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Tuesday, March 16

COLDER THAN AVERAGE WINTER & FEBRUARY FOR THE U.S.


Written by: Brian Neudorff

Most of us look at the calendar and see March 20 as the beginning of Spring but for meteorologist Spring began back on March 1st. How can there be 2 different? The Solstices and Equinoxes that we're all familiar with are what we call astronomical seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall) these start times are based on the earth’s position in its orbit around the sun. Meteorological seasons are based no weather. Meteorological winter for Western New York and most of the United States was December through February.

I bring that up because last week NOAA released their State of the Climate for Winter in the United States which ended on February 28. The above showed how temperatures fared compared to average across the United States. The below information was provided by NOAA.

U.S. Temperatures Highlights:

  • For the winter season, 63 percent of the country experienced below normal temperatures. In contrast to this national trend, Maine experienced the third warmest winter.
  • February’s average temperature was 32.4 degrees F, which is 2.2 degrees below the long-term average.
  • Cold air in the wake of several reinforcing Arctic air masses dominated much of the United States during February, creating temperatures that were much-below average in the Deep South and below average in the Plains and mid-Atlantic states. Both the South and Southeast climate regions experienced their seventh coldest February on record. Meanwhile, warmer-than-average temperatures dominated the Northwest and Northeast climate regions.
  • Florida had its fourth coldest February, Louisiana its fifth coldest, and Alabama, Georgia and Texas each had their sixth coldest. It was the seventh coldest February in Arkansas, while both Mississippi and South Carolina experienced their eighth coldest.


U.S. Precipitation Highlights:
  • Precipitation for the winter season was above average while it averaged slightly below the long term mean for the month of February.
  • The season-long wet spell was notable for the Southeast, as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina each had their eighth wettest winter. Precipitation was also much above normal for South Dakota, Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland. Wyoming and Idaho experienced their eighth and ninth driest winters, respectively.
  • Regionally, the active weather pattern in the South, Southwest, and Northeast created above normal precipitation for the month. The Northwest, West North Central, East North Central, and Central climate regions each had below-normal February precipitation. On the state level, New Mexico experienced its seventh wettest February on record. Conversely, Idaho had its seventh driest, and Wyoming its eighth driest.
Other Winter Highlights:
  • Major snowstorms on Feb. 4-7 and Feb. 9-11 plagued the Atlantic states. These storms ranked as Category Three (major) and Two (significant) storms respectively on the Northeast Snow Impacts Scale (NESIS). Combined and treated as one storm, they would become only the third Category Five (extreme) storm (the most extreme category) of the NESIS record.
  • A third storm, also ranking as a Category Three on the NESIS scale, occurred across southern New England on Feb. 23-28. February 2010 is the first month during the NESIS period of record, since 1956, to place three storms of Category Two or greater.
  • Several seasonal snowfall records were set: (previous record)
    • Baltimore: 79.9 inches (62.5 inches, 1995-96)
    • Washington (Dulles): 72.8 inches (61.9 inches, 1995-96)
    • Washington (National): 55.9 inches (54.4 inches, 1898-1899)
    • Wilmington, Del.: 66.7 inches (55.9 inches, 1995-96)
    • Philadelphia: 71.6 inches (65.5 inches, 1995-96)
    • Atlantic City, N.J.: 49.9 inches (46.9 inches, 1966-67)
  • In several eastern cities, February was the snowiest month on record: (previous record)
    • Washington (Dulles): 46.1 inches (34.9 inches, February 2003)
    • Central Park, N.Y.: 36.9 inches (30.5 inches, March 1896)
    • Pittsburgh: 48.7 inches (40.2 inches, January 1978)

4 comments:

  1. Brian or Scott,
    I've been hearing a lot about the possibility of a La Nina developing by next winter. Can you tell me what type of anomalies we see around here during La Nina winters? Not asking for a winter outlook, just what climatology averages for us during La Nina winters. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. I could be wrong, but I think a weak La Nina is more favorable for cold and snow in wintertime as opposed to a stronger La Nina. But hey, this might make a good blog topic for Scott....hint hint :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a very good question, we'll look that up and do a post on it. Kind of funny that winter is almost over and we already want to look ahead for next winter.

    I know, there's no way to do a forecast for next winter at this point, but we will let you know

    - Brian

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm watching your forecast for the weekend and early next week and it looks like it's turning colder for a few days. In looking at the latest run of the GFS model I can see why you're making that forecast. Do you expect this to be the beginning of a pattern shift away from the warm pattern we've been having all month? Three straight weeks of above normal temperatures is an amazing run any time of the year, let alone in March.

    ReplyDelete

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