February's Extreme Weather and Climate Events Reshaped US Winter

Sunday, March 03, 2024

February's extreme weather events left distinct patterns across the country -- and shifted Americans' ideas of what winters now look like.

Posted by lamplighter at 07:33 PM | 9 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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More from the article...

... The month's warmth means that the meteorological winter of 2023-2024 " which includes December, January and February " will very likely be the Lower 48 states' warmest on record.

The big picture: This winter was anything but ordinary, featuring sizzling heat waves more typical for mid-summer than late February, along with flooding rains in the East, a dry and mild Midwest, and a fusillade of atmospheric river storms hitting the West Coast.

- - - Many cities in the northern tier of the country busted their previous records for their warmest winter, according to preliminary data.

- - - This includes the Twin Cities, where the season is being referred to as the Lost Winter, due to the mild temperatures and lack of snowfall. Fargo, N.D. unbelievably saw a (preliminary) seasonal temperature anomaly of 14F above average, a staggering figure for such a three-month-long milestone. ...

Good map graphic in the article...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-03-03 02:43 PM | Reply

Forecasters here in CT have been saying things like, ~the first time that the high temperature in February was above freezing every day.~ We got about a foot to a foot and a half less snow than usual, and so much rain it was the wettest February on record.

Next week, we're expecting 4 to 6 inches more rain.

CT looks like it is turning into Seattle....

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-03-03 02:46 PM | Reply

Just stopped snowing here after a week. No snow at my house in Ontario... this time last year there was six feet.

#3 | Posted by REDIAL at 2024-03-03 02:59 PM | Reply

Reminds me of the year 2000, which was also an El Niño year.

#4 | Posted by sentinel at 2024-03-03 09:29 PM | Reply

We had a very mild February.

#5 | Posted by BellRinger at 2024-03-03 11:55 PM | Reply

We had tornados up in the Chicago burbs last week, after a drop from 75 to 30 in one day. Weird, man. When I was up at Mayo last month the local weather boy said they were 2 feet short of snow vs. normal.

#6 | Posted by bigalxenos at 2024-03-04 03:16 PM | Reply

February was actually somewhat cooler here than it has been in previous years. I only had to turn the air conditioner on once.

#7 | Posted by DarkVader at 2024-03-04 03:24 PM | Reply

We had a very mild February.

#5 | POSTED BY BELLRINGER

It hailed and thundered and has been raining cats and frogs (yes frogs) this week (we rarely ever have thunder storms on the coast.) The frogs were suddenly very happy and very noisy at night ... . Until they all apparently froze. An inch of hail just yesterday morning. Haven't heard the frogs croaking lately.

Ten feet of snow in the sierra mountains and 150 mph winds at donner summit.

Looks like we might actually get a little break in the rains Wednesday and Thursday. Then right back to it

Definitely not a mild ending to February or beginning of March.

#8 | Posted by donnerboy at 2024-03-04 04:05 PM | Reply

In Michigan ski areas pretty much didn't even have a season. Worried my locals will wind up going out of business. They've got a double whammy really, as their costs have exploded, attempting to generate enough snow to stay afloat, forcing lift tickets to rise faster than inflation even - which less people can afford. Trying to talk a couple of them into converting to bike parks in the summer. Both to stay afloat and feed my newest hobby over the last couple years lol.

It's getting freaky though. Ten years ago I remember arguing with climate change deniers that all you had to do was look at satellite images of polar ice caps retreating over the last few decades to know something was wrong. This year it's altered so much one has to wonder how it's going to affect agriculture. We're hitting a tipping point where it's going to start affecting food production. Not to mention the mid Atlantic oceanic current is at the point of collapse. On the plus side, that should settle arguments about whether sea level rise and drought become catastrophic, or it instead initiates a new ice age. Not to be alarmist. It's not like any of the super rich have recently started building bunkers or anything.

#9 | Posted by zeropointnrg at 2024-03-05 01:55 AM | Reply