February Was Super Variable And Gusty In Vermont

Turbulent snow squall clouds loom in the distance
on February 19 in St. Albans, one of many windy and
changeable days in February that marked
the character of the month

The climate numbers are in on a tempestuous weather February in Vermont.

Temperatures in February were all over the place, the weather pattern was active and the wind usually blew strong.  

March seems to want to pick up where February left off, and we'll get to that in a bit.

First, lets do the numbers. 

We're completing a rather strange winter in Vermont, as far as I'm concerned.  

Many winters in the Green Mountain State have their own personalities - cold and dry, snowy and cold, warm and rainy, gusty and changeable.

This winter, each month had their own individual style. December was warm, murky and cloudy. January was oddly sunny, but quite cold. February, as noted couldn't make up its mind.

After all the cold spells and warm shots are factored in Burlington's average temperature for February was 22.8 degrees, which is just 0.1 degrees below normal - essentially "normal".

This average was, of course, the "new normal". What's considered average was bumped up in the past year. Had this February occurred under what was considered average until last year, Burlington's February would have been a full 3.0 degrees on the warm side.

As it was, elsewhere in Vermont February was on the warm side. Montpelier's mean temperature for February was 22.9 degrees, which is for them four degrees on the plus side. St. Johnsbury's February came to 24.4 degrees, which is three degrees above normal for them. 

February in Vermont was on the wet side, which is a good thing as we still need the moisture, especially in the northern half of the state.

In the northern half of Vermont, precipitation, rain and melted snow and ice, ran about a half inch above normal for the month. Down in Rutland, the month was quite wet with a February total of 4.28 inches, which is about double the normal.

Snowfall was a little above normal statewide, but you'd never know it, as what fell kept melting.

The weather pattern in February featured a lot of quick hitting systems that had temperatures yo-yoing all over the place.  Burlington never had more than four consecutive days of above freezing temperatures and never had more than three consecutive days that continuously stayed below freezing.

The result of all this activity was a very windy February. 

In Burlington, eighteen days in February had wind gusts of at least 30 mph, and seven of those days gusted to at least 40 mph. 

MARCH STARTS VARIABLE

Today marks the start of meteorological spring. For record keeping purposes, climatologists regard winter as the period from December 1 through February 28, and spring as going from March 1 through May 31.

March is usually the month of the year with the most wild swings in weather, so if you still aren't accustomed to all the bonkers conditions we had in February, you'd better get used to it now.

Looking at the record books, March in Burlington has the widest difference of all time low and high temperatures of any month. It's been as cold as 24 below in March in Burlington, and it has twice been as warm as 84 degrees.

We've had recent Marches with an entire week of summerlike weather (2012) and others with a full on blizzard (The Pi Day Blizzard of 2017).

Those big weather swings we usually see in March often creates a lot of gusty days, contributing to those "March winds" the month is famous for. So keep holding on to your hat the way you did in February this year.

Of course, we don't know how the entire month of March will work out this year, but true to form we'll start out the month by bouncing all over the place.   (For what it's worth, NOAA is predicting a warmer than normal March in our neck of the woods, but those long range forecasts are rather unreliable).

Today, a storm is coming in from the west. These things are usually pretty weak, but this one has a bit of oomph to it. So we'll have snow this afternoon and evening.  Most of us should see two to four inches of new snow by midnight, with a little less in parts of the Champlain Valley and a little more in the central and northern Green Mountains.

Gusty south winds today will cause a lot of issues with blowing and drifting snow in spots, especially in the Champlain Islands.

Another little system will spread more light snow across Vermont Wednesday night and Thursday.  Then it will get briefly wicked cold with many of us going below zero Thursday night. 

Then the weekend warms up with a mix of precipitation.  We'll know more about that as we get closer to the event. 

 So yeah, all over the place.