ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After a chilly end to January mother nature decided to give us an early taste of spring in February. 

  • Warmest temperature recorded at TPA in February 2019: February 23 - 86 degrees
  • Lowest temperature recorded at TPA in February 2019: February 14 - 44 degrees
  • More Weather Blog stories

We started out the month with pleasant conditions and lots of highs in the 70s. The second week turned warm, though, with a lot of highs in the 80s and tying the daily record high of 84 on February 11.

That was followed by four cooler days of highs in the 70s, only to be followed by a longer streak of warm days after that. We had highs in the 80s from February 17 to 24. We ended the month with a return to highs in the 70s.

We had a couple of cool nights, but overall the month was definitely mild, without any big surge of cold air. However, it was nowhere near as warm as last February, when we broke numerous record highs.    

The warmest day at the Tampa Airport was 86 on February 23.

The lowest temperature at the Tampa Airport was 44 on February 14. (Lows were in the 30s this morning in northern counties with areas of frost)

The jet stream pattern across the Western Hemisphere took a big turn in February, with a massive push of cold air and lots of moisture into the Western United States.  Seattle and Portland both had a very wet and snowy month. 

It snowed heavily all the way down into southern California and Arizona, with snow even falling into Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  This was fantastic for solving their dry conditions, but that same pattern is what gave us a very mild, mainly dry February pattern.

We were lucky to end the month with a couple big surges of moisture that gave us some beneficial rains.  As a result, we ended the month with near average rainfall totals. 

Coastal areas had higher totals while inland areas had slightly lower totals.

The heaviest totals were in Pinellas County, where many locations had 3 to 4 inches.

Here were the totals elsewhere:

  • Tampa 2.91
  • Bradenton 1.54
  • Lakeland 2.65
  • Brooksville 1.74
  • Clearwater 3.03 (2.68” on the 26th)
  • St. Petersburg 1.93
  • Winter Haven 1.56
  • Ruskin 1.13
  • Bay News 9: 2.33