February 2024 Observations and Discussion

[Tom]

Some weird weather here in the Valley…an unusable Dust Storm is sweeping through from the southeast!

 

 

 

[jaster220]

24 hrs later, this afternoon looked like this with W/C pegged at ZERO! Real feel temp down 66 degs from my comfy walk-about yesterday.

 

[Hoosier]

Tonight was Tom Skilling's last night at WGN.  Although I haven't been following Tom nearly as much as I used to, he is someone that I began watching as a kid and certainly had a role in developing my interest in weather.  I can remember many nights waiting for 9:30 pm to watch Tom's forecast, and dare I say it was (and maybe still is) the best TV weather segment in the business.  Watching this video honestly almost got me a little emotional.  Thank you, Tom.  You are on the Mount Rushmore of Chicago TV personalities and we'll always remember you.

 

[Andie]

He had a long and distinguished career.   Hard to believe he won’t be on air.  

[westMJim]

Happy Leap Day. The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 56/20 that 56 was just after midnight. The was 0.09” of precipitation and 0.02” of snowfall. There was no sunshine. Here in MBY there were several snow showers and at times the ground was covered but it do not stay on the ground long. For today the average H/L is 38/23.

All of the records are for February 29th the record high is 58 set in 2000 the record low of -2 was set in 1980 the record rain fall of 0.58” fell in 2012 the record snowfall of 4.1” fell in 2008. The most snow on the ground for February 29th is 10” in 1912. On the last leap day in 2020 the H/L was 33/17.

[westMJim]

Some leap day weather history in southern lower Michigan

1884: It is the coldest Leap Day on record in Lower Michigan with Lansing falling to 15 below zero and Detroit to 6 below.

2000: Leap Day record highs include 63 degrees at Muskegon, 60 at Lansing, and 58 at Grand Rapids.

2008: A Leap Day snowstorm drops 4 inches of snow at Grand Rapids, bringing the monthly total to 41.6 inches, the snowiest February on record.

[chescowxman]

Today we end the winter months of December, January and February. While this year has been very warm it is actually almost a degree cooler than last winter. The warmest winter ever was way back in 1931/32 with an average temp of 39.51 degrees. Of note in our current warm cycle we have recorded 7 of the top 10 warmest DJF periods all just since the year 2000!!!

[Andie]

39*.  Rain.  
Not enough, but we’ll take it.  A million acres burned.  Thank heaven it’s late winter and they can sow spring seed.  
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/29/us/texas-panhandle-smokehouse-creek-fire-thursday/index.html

In Hemphill County alone, 400,000 acres are burned, scores of homes have been destroyed and thousands of cattle have died, Hemphill County AgriLife Extension agent Andy Holloway said.

More than 85% of cattle in Texas are raised in the Panhandle, according to agricultural officials.

[Tom]

7 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Tonight was Tom Skilling's last night at WGN.  Although I haven't been following Tom nearly as much as I used to, he is someone that I began watching as a kid and certainly had a role in developing my interest in weather.  I can remember many nights waiting for 9:30 pm to watch Tom's forecast, and dare I say it was (and maybe still is) the best TV weather segment in the business.  Watching this video honestly almost got me a little emotional.  Thank you, Tom.  You are on the Mount Rushmore of Chicago TV personalities and we'll always remember you.

 

Well said and I concur with your thoughts.  As a kid, growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, I used a VCR (remember those?) and recorded the WGN Noon Wx Segments and watched them when I came home from school.  I only did this during the Winter seasons, esp when a Winter storm was on the horizon.  Gosh, I remember those days like it was yesterday!  At night, before I went to bed, I made sure to watch the 9:30pm segment.  My parents saw my love and passion for the weather.

I watched this video and it brought me the chills...what a guy, what a legend...I want to personally meet him one day and just talk weather!

https://wgntv.com/celebratingskilling/tom-skilling-in-his-own-words/

[Andie]

I recall watching his forecasts. I lived near Aurora, Ill for a brief time and watched him.  
very informative as weather guys go. Learned a lot.  
We need more like him.  

[Black Hole]

14 hours ago, Tom said:

Some weird weather here in the Valley…an unusable Dust Storm is sweeping through from the southeast!

 

 

 

Definitely "unusable" lol

[Tom]

25 minutes ago, Black Hole said:

Definitely "unusable" lol

Yes and whoops!  Just saw that typo…definitely “unusable”!

[tStacsh]

Crazy end to meteorological winter.    If it weren't for 8 days in January and 1 day in February, this would be the most non winter ever.   Certainly looks to end up as the one of if not the warmest winter on record here in SMI.  Looks like more record highs coming on Monday.  And looks to be slightly to mostly above normal as we head into the first 2 weeks of  March.   It's certainly going to suck when late March and April are terrible.  But maybe we break that trend in this pattern this year and bring on spring for good.  

If this were 200 years ago, this winter would be talked about as one of those "years without a winter" At least that how it feels.  

[Andie]

A lot of hot spots.  I understand it covers something 1700 sq miles.  Stretches out west to east from the wind this week.  
Edit:  Just a thought  but if we do not get spring rains the summer looks truly frightening.

[jaster220]

19 minutes ago, tStacsh said:

Crazy end to meteorological winter.    If it weren't for 8 days in January and 1 day in February, this would be the most non winter ever.   Certainly looks to end up as the one of if not the warmest winter on record here in SMI.  Looks like more record highs coming on Monday.  And looks to be slightly to mostly above normal as we head into the first 2 weeks of  March.   It's certainly going to suck when late March and April are terrible.  But maybe we break that trend in this pattern this year and bring on spring for good.  

If this were 200 years ago, this winter would be talked about as one of those "years without a winter" At least that how it feels.  

Had to laugh. 82-83 was worse, lol. We not only got those 2 solid weeks of cold, it came with two big storms and my deepest snow in years. Strong Nino is almost always bad anyways. This sorta broke that for the first time since maybe 72-73.

[Niko]

After experiencing the 70s yesterday, I am definitely ready for spring. March right now is looking to have AN temps and I unless a fluke happens outta nowhere, my seasonal snowfall remains well BN, as expected. I am not surprised because in a nino yr, that is what you get. I am greatful that January snowfall was ironically AN. One thing is for sure, this winter was definitely a very mild one.

[Hoosier]

11 tornadoes confirmed in Illinois (10 of which are in the LOT cwa) and 1 in Indiana

[Hoosier]

Here's a coincidence as we close out February.  O'Hare and Rockford are both at 21.2" of snow so far this season.

[gosaints]

Finished the month at +13.9....

[chescowxman]

We saw subfreezing lows to start the day across Chesco this AM....but that should be the last below freezing day for at least the next week. A beautiful day today with high temps right about where they should be for March 1st in the mid-40's. Rain arrives toward midnight tonight and should last much of the day tomorrow with at least a half-inch of rain across most spots. The sun returns Sunday with highs well up into the 50's to near 60 degrees.

County wide records for today: High 75 Chadds Ford (1972) / Low 1 above Phoenixville (1934) / Rain 1.45" Coatesville (1954) / Snow 11.0" Phoenixville (1952)

[Black Hole]

For my house February ended up with 1.48" of rain. The max for the month was 85F and the minimum was 19F. I had one day with a high below 40F. Overall a boring but mild month. The only "winter weather" was yesterday evening when it was sleeting 

Officially it was the 3rd warmest Feb on record at the Tulsa airport. Certainly not typical for an El Nino but this whole winter was strange. 

[Hoosier]

This was the warmest February on record for Chicago, beating the previous mark by 0.5 degrees.  The monthly mean was 39.5, which is 10.7 degrees above the 1991-2020 normals.

It was also a relatively dry month.  But as I alluded to in the past, the wetness in Dec/Jan resulted in DJF being wetter than average, despite the drier turn in February.

[Clinton]

Here's the February rundown for KC.

NWS Kansas City

 

@NWSKansasCity

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Here's the February 2024 climate rundown: -Feb 2024 was 10.5 degrees above normal and the 3rd warmest on the 136-year record for KC. -Precip was 0.15" which was 1.33" below normal and the 5th driest on record. -Snow came in at 1.3" which was 4.6" below normal (35th least)

[james1976]

MSP recorded its warmest winter ever (Dec-Feb) at 29.9°. The avg is 19.9°