Comparing Feb 2019 To Previous Great Ones...Where It Ranks

[snow_wizard]

I came up with a chart to compare February 2019 to other historic Februaries for Seattle back to 1880.  I chose several key elements to compare...all having to do with either temperature or snowfall.  The points of comprison are monthly average temperature, coldest minimum for the month, max temperatures below 40, max temperatures of 32 or below, min temeperatures 32 or below, total monthly snowfall, snowiest day, maximum snow depth, and number of days with 1 inch or more snow on the ground.

 

Each of these metrics are assigned a value from 1 to 5 with 1 being least extreme and 5 being the most extreme.  The scales are as follows:

 

Monthly average temperature

 

39.5 and above = 1

38.6 - 39.4 = 2

37.6 - 38.5 = 3

36.1 - 37.5 = 4

36.0 and below = 5

 

Extreme minimum temperature for the month

 

28 and above = 1

25 - 27 = 2

20 - 24 = 3

15 - 19 = 4

Below 15 = 5

 

Max temperature below 40 (number of days)

 

Below 5 = 1

5 - 6 = 2

7 - 8 = 3

8 - 9 = 4

10 and above = 5

 

Max temperature 32 or below (number of days)

 

1 = 1

2 = 2

3 = 3

4 = 4

5 and above = 5

 

Min temperature 32 or below (number of days)

 

Below 8 = 1

8 - 11 = 2

12 - 14 = 3

15 - 17 = 4

18 and above = 5

 

Monthly snowfall

 

Below 6" = 1

6" - 7.9" = 2

8" - 11.9" = 3

12" - 14.9" = 4

15" and above = 5

 

Greatest daily snowfall

 

Below 4" = 1

4" - 4.9" = 2

5" - 5.9" = 3

6" - 7.9" = 4

8" and above = 5

 

Maximum depth

 

Below 4" = 1

4" = 2

5" - 6" = 3

7" - 8" = 4

Over 8" = 5

 

Number of days 1" or more on ground

 

Below 5 = 1

5 = 2

6 - 7 = 3

8 - 9 = 4

10 or greater = 5

 

 

There is also a column for monthly average temperature which is derived from an average of all stations for the Puget Sound Lowlands.  The scale for that is as follows:

 

38.1 or above = 1

37.1 - 38.0 = 2

36.1 - 37.0 = 3

34.6 - 36.0 = 4

34.5 and below = 5

 

In tallying up the points columns I used whichever one had the highest point value between Seattle and the Puget Sound Lowlands for monthly average temperature.  All other criterion are from either Sea - Tac Airport (1945 - present), the city of Seattle (1891 - 1944), or Tacoma 1883 - 1890).

 

Of the following two tables one is sorted by rank of total points for all of the criteria combined and the other is simply in chronological order.  As I'm sure you'll notice the period 1880 through 1899 utterly dominates the top spots.  Amazing so many top tier Februaries could happen over such a short period.  Quite obviously our just completed February 2019 stacked up pretty well against the competition!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[snow_wizard]

Here are the charts.

 

 

[Front Ranger]

Great work, Wiz! Seems like a very fair way to rate any winter month.

 

Side note: 2017-2019 is the first time since 1955-57 that three Februaries in a row have had an average temp below 40 at OLM.

[snow_wizard]

Great work, Wiz! Seems like a very fair way to rate any winter month.

 

Side note: 2017-2019 is the first time since 1955-57 that three Februaries in a row have had an average temp below 40 at OLM.

 

Thanks!

 

I've had three consecutive Februaries average below 40 here as well.  And all have had snowfall.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I really cannot wait to see Silver Falls February stats when they come in, probably in a couple of months. I really really hope they recorded snowfall. They have generally been doing a better job in recent years of doing that. It's pretty obvious they are mostly just calculating snow depth changes as daily snowfall, but that is better than nothing even if it is under representing how much snow actually falls. 

[MossMan]

Not going to go by official stats but more personal experience and not just February..

This is probably #4 all time for me.

#1 November 2006

#2 December 2008

#3 November 1985

#4 February/March 2019

#5 December 1996

#6 December 1990

#7 January 2012

#8 February 1989 (I think)

#9 January 1980 (I think)

#10 February 2018

I will explain why later when I don’t have a baby in my arms.

[snow_wizard]

Not going to go by official stats but more personal experience and not just February..

This is probably #4 all time for me.

#1 November 2006

#2 December 2008

#3 November 1985

#4 February/March 2019

#5 December 1996

#6 December 1990

#7 January 2012

#8 February 1989 (I think)

#9 January 1980 (I think)

#10 February 2018

I will explain why later when I don’t have a baby in my arms.

 

Fun idea!  I would go with.

 

November 1985 - no way anything I've lived through tops the overall wintriness of this amazing month

January / early Feb 1972 - Always a special place in my heart since I was 8 years old when this happened!

December 1990 - Big snow where I was living at the time followed by EPIC cold and a white Christmas

Winter 1988-89 - Where I was living at the time we had a nice C-Zone snow in January besides the major Feb and Mar events

January 1980 - our last really great January

December 2008 - multiple snow events, good duration, solid cold

February 2019 - very close race between this and December 2008.  This month had my favorite snowstorm since moving to Covington.

December 1996 - this one was big but ended too quickly and with a huge mess

December 1974 - one of the heaviest snows I can recall as a child...A big rain transitioning to snow event

February 1985 - multiple snows long lasting decent cold

January 2007 -  best January event of the 21st century for MBY.  Decent snowfall followed by a good period of cold and clear

 

Honorable mention

 

January / early February 1996, February 1990, winter 1992-93, January 2004

[TigerWoodsLibido]

For me this was my second best since I moved to Oregon in 1989. Only Dec 2008 tops it and I lived in the N Willamette Valley then. This is the best month in the s valley for snow since I moved to Oregon as well as they largely missed out in Dec 2008.