U.S. has cold February, but warm winter
Yesterday, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) released its recap of February climate across the United States, along with a review of the 2020-21 winter season. Among the highlights was that the contiguous United States had its coldest February in more than 30 years. The chill wasn’t enough to overpower the warmth of December and January in the seasonal average. Average winter temperature was 33.6 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1.4 degrees F warmer than average, ranking in the warmest third of winters on record.
Precipitation-wise, February 2021 was in the middle third of the historical record, with much wetter than average conditions along the mid-Atlantic and Southeast seaboard, but drier than average conditions in California, the Southwest, and most of the Great Plains. Winter precipitation was 6.10 inches, 0.69 inch below average, and ranked among the driest one-third of the 126-year period of record.
The dry winter is reflected in the widespread drought conditions across the country. Almost the entire western half of the country was at least abnormally dry, and more than 45 percent was experiencing some level of drought as of the March 2 report from the U.S. Drought Monitor. The areas in drought include more than 80 million acres of forest experiencing severe to exceptional drought in places like Colorado, Utah, northern California, and southern Oregon.
For more February or winter climate information, visit the NCEI’s monthly reports page. For more details about drought conditions and impacts, visit Drought.gov.