February marked a return to unseasonably warm temperatures in the Northeast. The area-weighted average temperature for the region was 3.9 degrees warmer than normal. This was the fifth consecutive year with a warmer-than-normal February, although it was 0.9 degrees cooler than February 1999. Twelve of the last thirteen winter months have been warmer than normal. Departures around the twelve-state region this month ranged from 1.5 degrees warmer than normal in Maine to 6.3 degrees warmer than normal in West Virginia.
Precipitation accumulations showed a greater degree of variability across the region. Delaware and Rhode Island each reported 46% of normal, while West Virginia measured 132% of the normal monthly total. The area-weighted average for the region of 2.70 inches was practically equal to the normal of 2.69 inches. This was 0.54 inches more than that received in February 1999.
Caribou, Maine established a new daily snowfall record for the month of February with 18.3 inches on the 14th. The old record was 16.9 inches on February 12, 1952.
The winter season (December, January, February) averaged 2.6 degrees warmer than normal. This was the fourth consecutive warmer-than-normal winter, but this winter had the smallest departure of these four. The winter ranked as the 26th warmest in the last 105 years.
Winter precipitation totalled 86% of normal for the 22nd driest winter in 105 years. The regional average of 7.66 inches was the lowest winter precipitation total since 1988-89. The nine-month standardized precipitation index (a useful tool for water resources monitoring) indicates that the only areas of the region where dryness is currently a concern is West Virginia into the southwest corner of Pennsylvania and the panhandle of Maryland.
Monthly Summary of State Temperature and Precipitation Averages.