MILD IN FEBRUARY... CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Temperatures are *already* running 6 degrees above normal this month and even warmer weather is on the way. Not only that, but many spots in the southern half of my area will likely have 4 straight days in the 60s! The last and ONLY time that happened in February was back in 1930.
Now I dug around and looked at the top 5 warmest February's on record. Then, I checked what happened that following March. I found an interesting trend... measurable snow!
Cedar Rapids:
Quad Cities:
Additionally, the last time there was an inch of snow recorded in a single day in Cedar Rapids (and many parts of my area) was 60 days ago, back on December 17th. I'm expecting another 9 snow free days, putting us at 69 straight days without an inch.
That would approach the record longest streak (during winter) without an inch of snow, which was 73 days in 1943-1944. After that streak ended, the rest of February, March and April racked up 24.4" of snow!
Not saying we're going to get buried in snow, but I will say just because we're having a spring fling this weekend does not mean winter is over.
RK