It was warm this winter . Freakishly warm , in fact . It was warm enough that we probably should have feel guilty for enjoying it so much . After all , any time you may open up your windows when you ’re say to be shudder and watching traveling shows for warmth is a unknown place . Most of the United States just lived through one of the warmest Februarys on disc to close out one of the warm winter on record . Here are some statistics that will show you just how outstandingly bonkers it ’s been for the past three month .
1. THIS FEBRUARY WAS WARMER THAN NORMAL.
A map of how fond this February was compared to premature years . Stations showing a ‘ 1 ’ experienced the warmest February ever record at that localization . persona Credit : SERCC
It should n’t come as any shock that February ’s temperatures were above - average when you comminute the phone number . Out of 888 weather note stations across the lowly 48 , a substantial 60 pct of those stations ( or 534 positioning ) see their top-10 warm February on record book this class . Even worse is that 186 of those locations — dot from the depths of Texas to the Canadian delimitation — recorded their all - time warm February , with some record stretch out back more than 100 years .
2. THEWHOLE WINTERWAS WARMER THAN NORMAL.
Not only was this retiring February a record - breaker , but the whole winter was warm on intermediate . Data from theSoutheast Regional Climate Centershows that over half of those 888 weather condition detect station in the contiguous United States saw this winter office among the top ten warmest wintertime ever recorded , with almost all of the toasty station reside east of the Rocky Mountains . Most of the all - time warmest winter records were go under in the southerly part of the country , include cities like Houston , Texas , and Raleigh , North Carolina .
3. THE WARMTH KEPT MOST OF THE SNOW AT BAY.
Taken just one mean solar day apart in early February , two scene of the business district Manhattan apparent horizon — one warm and sunny , the other obscured by snow — as go out from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade . Image Credit : Spencer Platt / Getty Images
As you could conceive of , you ’re not go to obtain very much snow when it ’s relatively toasty out there . There have been other winters with less snow than most billet see this year , but the differences are negligible . Take Washington D.C. , for example . Washington National Airport , which sit down just across the Potomac River from the capital letter city itself , typically sees about 15 inch of snow every year . They ’ve record just over an inch of snow this year . On the list of least - snow-covered winters in the nation ’s capital letter , this wintertime rank fourth since records began in 1940 .
4. CHICAGO SAW NO SNOW IN JANUARY OR FEBRUARY.
Even more strange is the fact that Chicago went through the entire month of January and February without encounter one lick of snow cover the terra firma . According to the city ’s National Weather Service office , this was the first clock time in the metropolis ’s 146 year of recording weather observation thatthey did n’t see any snowon the ground during the dead of winter . The city saw a foot - and - a - half of C. P. Snow spread out over several storm during the month of December , but all of that coke melt by Christmas . The most they ’ve check since then is a “ trace ” of snow , which is snow that falls but instantly melt when it collide with the ground .
5. THE GREAT LAKES WERE RELATIVELY ICE-FREE.
While we ’re look toward the Midwest , it ’s worth noting that the Great Lakes were surprisingly ice - innocent this season . The five lake only discover about 15 percent of their surface covered by ice during the season ’s maximum extent on February 8 , and what niggling ice did organise this yr is speedily melting as warm aura go on to bath the enormous body of water system . Since NOAAbegan keeping recordsback in 1973 , a distinctive winter sees a little more than half of the Great Lakes overcompensate with ice during the summit of winter , but the coverage has been as low as 11 percent , a record attain in 2002 .
6. THE LEAVES LOVED IT, THOUGH.
A map showing how unusually early ( or late ) leaves first show up on trees in 2017 compare to normal . epitome Credit : USANPN
human are n’t the only organisms enjoying the suspension from wintertime ’s grip . TheUSA National Phenology Networktracks the extent of tree diagram bud and get leaf as spring begins to set in . According to their observations , almost every part of the United States that has foliage on its tree diagram right now saw those leaves appear a full three weeks ahead of schedule — what it calls " very big anomalies . " This is welcome news for the birds and the bee , but if there ’s a sudden cold grab in March — which is n’t unheard of — it could do some serious legal injury to any plants that are suddenly more vulnerable than normal .
7. THE WARMTH LED TO SOME SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
When you put an active conditions pattern together with warm and unstable line , it ’s almost inevitable that you ’ll thread up with unattackable electric storm at some point . We saw several rounds of stern weather this give , result inat least three fatalitieson the last day of February . grave weather is fair common in the southeast due to its law of proximity to muggy atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico , but severe weather stretched unusually far north this year . A crack cocaine thattouched down in westerly Massachusettson February 25 was the only twister ever tape in the land during the calendar month of February , and quite possibly the farthest north we ’ve ever assure a tornado since dependable record began in 1950 .
8. SO WHY HAS IT BEEN SO WARM?
Why has it been so warm in the Orient and so cool and fighting out west ? It has to do with the jet stream . For the preceding brace of years , there ’s been a huge ridge in the fountain current over the West Coast that kept them lovesome and perilously dry , while the spurt flow dipped in the south and brought cooler , more active weather condition to the rest of the United States . That rule broke this twelvemonth , essentially reversing itself and keeping the passion - hasten ridge out east while the jet stream in the Benjamin West keep dipping south and bringing them a steadfast stream of uncut weather . One theory as to why the pattern flick isthe disappearanceof the ill-famed “ Blob , ” a moniker yield to an unusually warm orbit of H2O in the northeasterly Pacific Ocean . That water cooled off , which may have allowed the jet watercourse to readjust itself into the approach pattern we ’ve seen this wintertime .
