Monday: 4 March 2013
It’s The Month of February, Number 85 in a series.
Here are the usual temperature anomalies products, at the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.
Quite a hodge podge of temperature anomalies in February. The US West warmed up in a few places while the rest continued January’s cooler temperaures. Much of the South and East continued warmer temperatures, especially Texxas and New England. The Atlantic States into the Southeast were just slightly above (or below) average February temperatures.
For the Athens, GA area:
Here is a plot of our daily temperatures excursions in February, along with precipitation amounts as experienced in Wolfskin. In December and January we had higher than normal temperatures; in February we returned to the cold weather expected for February. We also had quite an extensive amount of rainfall!
The average monthly temperature for February was 45.2 degF, almost 2 degrees below normal, with the high and low temperatures equally below normal. We had 1 day more than 1 standard deviation above normal highs (4.7 normal), and 4 days more than 1 standard deviation below normal lows (5.3 normal).
Despite cold temperatures and plenty of rain, we recorded no significant snowfall (a tiny amount fell early morning last Saturday).
The monthly histogram below shows the breakdown of high and low temperature range counts from February 1948 on. This time around there are no significant deviations from the average number of events in any category, except possibly a higher than average number of 31-40 deg lows - i.e., just verging on more than the usual number of cooler nights. Almost remarkably average!
The figure below shows the Athens precipitation data which are official for our area. As usual the green line shows our actual rainfall, the red shows the average accumulation expected. The black dots are rainfall over the last 20 years, the vast river of peach shows the standard deviation, and that rare blue color at the end shows we got above 1 standard deviation of surplus of rain.
Our total out here was 6.82", and in Athens (shown here) it was 6.36". 4.48" is normal for February, so we were above normal, and overall have had quite a wet winter.
Prognosticator stuff:
What is the neat prognosticator telling us? It got it right for us here in the southeast last month. It’s telling us more rain for the next couple of weeks, tapering off to normal levels over the next month or three. Cooler temperatures too, until the 2-3 month mark when the east US becomes abnormally warm.
ENSO stuff:
The folks at CPC have a version of PDF or HTML that is much different from their previous presentations, but at least it’s there and the link isn’t broken.
As of Mar 4, ENSO neutral conditions continue, and are expected to remain neutral through Northern Hemisphere spring.
As of Feb 26, the US Drought Monitor now has none of Georgia (or the southeast) in exceptional or extreme drought. Parts of Florida and central-south Georgia are in moderate or severe drought. Otherwise the February rains helped out quite a bit. Still, much of the US continues to be under at least moderate drought classification, with a lot of the southern and central regions in the country in severe or extreme drought.
NOAA’s Monthly State of the Climate product for January is available. More excitingly, the annual report for 2012 regionally, nationally, and globally is now also available. Revisit your favorite moments of 2012: storms, tornados, drought, shitty snow packs, wildfires, and Isaac and Sandy!
Here are the usual temperature anomalies products, at the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.
Quite a hodge podge of temperature anomalies in February. The US West warmed up in a few places while the rest continued January’s cooler temperaures. Much of the South and East continued warmer temperatures, especially Texxas and New England. The Atlantic States into the Southeast were just slightly above (or below) average February temperatures.
 | We find the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center’s precipitation plots here. In February, dry conditions continued to creep northwards in the southwest with virtually all of California receiving very little rain. In contrast broad swaths of excess precipitation marked the Central and Southeast US. Elsewhere in the East at least average precipitation manifested. |
For the Athens, GA area:
Here is a plot of our daily temperatures excursions in February, along with precipitation amounts as experienced in Wolfskin. In December and January we had higher than normal temperatures; in February we returned to the cold weather expected for February. We also had quite an extensive amount of rainfall!
The average monthly temperature for February was 45.2 degF, almost 2 degrees below normal, with the high and low temperatures equally below normal. We had 1 day more than 1 standard deviation above normal highs (4.7 normal), and 4 days more than 1 standard deviation below normal lows (5.3 normal).
Despite cold temperatures and plenty of rain, we recorded no significant snowfall (a tiny amount fell early morning last Saturday).
The monthly histogram below shows the breakdown of high and low temperature range counts from February 1948 on. This time around there are no significant deviations from the average number of events in any category, except possibly a higher than average number of 31-40 deg lows - i.e., just verging on more than the usual number of cooler nights. Almost remarkably average!
The figure below shows the Athens precipitation data which are official for our area. As usual the green line shows our actual rainfall, the red shows the average accumulation expected. The black dots are rainfall over the last 20 years, the vast river of peach shows the standard deviation, and that rare blue color at the end shows we got above 1 standard deviation of surplus of rain.
Our total out here was 6.82", and in Athens (shown here) it was 6.36". 4.48" is normal for February, so we were above normal, and overall have had quite a wet winter.
Prognosticator stuff:
What is the neat prognosticator telling us? It got it right for us here in the southeast last month. It’s telling us more rain for the next couple of weeks, tapering off to normal levels over the next month or three. Cooler temperatures too, until the 2-3 month mark when the east US becomes abnormally warm.
ENSO stuff:
The folks at CPC have a version of PDF or HTML that is much different from their previous presentations, but at least it’s there and the link isn’t broken.
As of Mar 4, ENSO neutral conditions continue, and are expected to remain neutral through Northern Hemisphere spring.
As of Feb 26, the US Drought Monitor now has none of Georgia (or the southeast) in exceptional or extreme drought. Parts of Florida and central-south Georgia are in moderate or severe drought. Otherwise the February rains helped out quite a bit. Still, much of the US continues to be under at least moderate drought classification, with a lot of the southern and central regions in the country in severe or extreme drought.
NOAA’s Monthly State of the Climate product for January is available. More excitingly, the annual report for 2012 regionally, nationally, and globally is now also available. Revisit your favorite moments of 2012: storms, tornados, drought, shitty snow packs, wildfires, and Isaac and Sandy!
