February has come and gone. It is the last month of meteorological winter and can typically have some fairly wild swings in the weather around here.
We have had cold snaps, severe storms, warm spells, drought, you name it.
Usually February is cool and dry. This year will go down as a cold and wet February. Here is a look at some of the locations in the area and how they fared against a typical February:
Tampa
- Average temp 59.7 (3.7 degrees below average)
- Rainfall 6.52 inches (3.71 inches above average)
Lakeland
- Average Temp 59.2 (4.1 degrees below average)
- Rainfall 5.65 inches (2.65 inches above average)
St Petersburg
- Average Temp 60.5 (3.6 degrees below average)
- Rainfall 4.88” (2.16 inches above average)
Bradenton
- Average Temp 59.7 (3.7 degrees below average)
- Rainfall 3.81” (1.11 inches above average)
This year did feature several chilly days, but only one very cold day. That was Feb. 20, when lows were below freezing in many locations and daytime temperatures stayed in the upper 40s to around 50.
Just a couple of days later, we hit our highs for the month: the upper 70s to around 80 on Feb. 22.
What made this year’s February unusual from a rainfall standpoint is that we had several heavy rain days. More than an inch of rain fell in many locations on Feb. 5, 9, 17, 18 and 28.
March comes next, and as the first month of meteorological spring it still can be cool and somewhat dry.
Our averages go from 74 and 56 today to 78 and 60 by the end of the month. A typical March only has about 3 inches of rain.