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Northeast Regional Climate Center |
The Northeast's cold trend continued into February, making this the sixth month in a row with a below normal temperature. The regional average this month was 21.5 degrees, 4.1 degrees below normal. Such a large temperature departure is not unusual for February. In the summer months a temperature departure of 4 degrees or more is rare and usually constitutes a record-setting month. But this February, no records were in any danger of being surpassed. Not one state came within 5 degrees of it's record coldest February. Maine, with a departure of -4.6 degrees, had its 19th coldest February on record (out of 109 years). This month did not provide any relief from the recent cold weather. This was the coldest February since 1994 and it caps the second coldest December-February period since 1979. Also, this month stops the trend of warm Februarys at six years in a row (one shy of the record - seven).
The impact of the President's Day snowstorm can be seen in the precipitation averages for this February. While the northern half of the region (including New England and New York) was close to normal, south of Pennsylvania totals ranged between 2.03 inches (New Jersey) and 3.71 inches (Delaware) above normal. In Maryland and Delaware, where numerous snowfall records were set, this was the wettest February on record with respective totals of 6.39 inches, and 6.81 inches of rain and melted snow. West Virginia was also above 6 inches on the month, the fourth wettest February for that state. Vermont and New Hampshire were the only states which fell short of their normal totals. This was the third dry month in a row for Vermont. Overall for the region this was the wettest February since 1984 and makes up for most of the 1.02 inch deficit accrued in January.
February 16-18, 2003 Snowfall Map
Monthly Summary of State Temperature and Precipitation Averages.
| Greatest 24 hr snowfall (inches) | ||||||
| City | Date | New | Previous | |||
| Boston, MA | 17-18 | 27.5 | 25.4 in 3/31-4/01/97 | |||
| Greatest single storm snowfall (inches) | ||||||
| City | Date | New | Previous | |||
| Boston, MA | 17-18 | 27.5 | 27.1 in 2/6-7/78 | |||
| Baltimore, MD | 15-18 | 28.2 | 26.5 in 1/27-29/22 | |||
| Daily snowfall records (inches) | ||||||
| City | Date | New | Previous | |||
| Washington, D.C. (Reagan) | 16 | 13.3 | 6.8 in 1996 | |||
| Baltimore, MD | 16 | 21.8 | 9.8 in 1996 | |||
| Washington (Dulles) | 16 | 15.9 | 1.3 in 1993 | |||
| Washington (Dulles) | 15 | 4.2 | 1.6 in 1995 | |||
| Newark, NJ | 17 | 18.6 | 1.9 in 1956 | |||
| New York, NY (C. Park) | 17 | 16.3 | 10 in 1902 | |||
| Bridgeport, CT | 17 | 16.0 | 1.5 in 1952 | |||
| Albany, NY | 17 | 11.9 | 10.4 in 1952 | |||
| Harrisburg, PA | 16 | 12.6 | 5.3 in 1993 | |||
| Pittsburgh, PA | 17 | 5.2 | 5 in 1893 | |||
| Williamsport, PA | 17 | 9.8 | 1.8 in 1967 | |||
| Daily precipitation records (inches) | ||||||
| City | Date | New | Previous | |||
| Washington, D.C. (Dulles) | 16 | 1.29 | 0.44 in 1993 | |||
| Baltimore, MD | 16 | 2.01 | 1.3 in 1903 | |||
| New York, NY (C. Park) | 16 | 1.49 | 1.02 in 1884 | |||
| Harrisburg, PA | 16 | 1.25 | 0.6 in 1909 | |||
| Record low minimum temperature (degrees F) | ||||||
| City | Date | New | Previous | |||
| Bangor, ME | 14 | -21 | -19 in 1967 | |||
| Houlton, ME | 15 | -19 | -19 in 1943,1939 | |||
| Caribou, ME | 17 | -22 | -22 in 1997 | |||
| Houlton, ME | 17 | -24 | -22 in 1943 | |||
| Mt. Mansfield, VT | 16 | -23 | -23 in 1991 | |||
| Montpelier, VT | 16 | -18 | -12 in 1959 | |||
| Massena, NY | 16 | -28 | -13 in 1987 | |||
| Montpelier, VT | 15 | -22 | -14 in 1987 | |||
| Record low maximum temperature (degrees F) | ||||||
| City | Date | New | Previous | |||
| Binghamton, NY | 16 | 9 | 10 in 1963 | |||
| Albany, NY | 16 | 4 | 6 in 1904 | |||
| Massena, NY | 16 | -1 | 5 in 1979 | |||
| Montpelier, VT | 16 | 1 | 2 in 1979 | |||
| Burlington, VT | 16 | -2 | 0 in 1979 | |||
| Massena, NY | 15 | -2 | -1 in 1987 | |||
| Montpelier, VT | 15 | -1 | -1 in 1987 | |||
