OSWEGO, NY – February 2010 goes into the record book nearly 3 degrees warmer than average – and yet there was more snow than average.
“It was a pretty good month,” said Bill Gregway, local observer for the National Weather Service. “It snowed the last 6 days of the month, giving us the majority of our snowfall total.”
The average temperature last month was 28 degrees. That is 2.6 degrees warmer than normal.
The high temperature was 43 degrees on the 26th and the low was 13 degrees on the 6th.
There were no records set during February.
All of the overnight lows were freezing; 32 degrees or colder.
There were 7 days where the high was only in the 20s.
The last 10 days of the month, the high was 33 degrees or warmer, according to Gregway,
There was 1 day in the 40s and the low dipped into the teens 8 times, he added.
“We didn’t have much of a temperature range in February. If you throw out that 43, everything else was all pretty close,” Gregway said. “We really didn’t see any big swings in temperature between highs and lows.”
Total precipitation for February was 2.91 inches. That’s 0.08-inch below average.
The greatest precipitation in a 24-hour period was 1.30 inches on Feb. 25-26.
Since the first of the year, precipitation stands at 6.42 inches; that is 0.20-inch below where it should be.
February saw 13 days of measurable precipitation, 7 in a row. There were 8 days with a trace and 7 days with no precipitation, 3 in a row.
Total snowfall last month was 38.6 inches. That is 4.1 inches above average.
The greatest snowfall in a 24-hour period was 17.8 inches on Feb. 25-26.
For the winter, snowfall stands at 117 inches, which is 10.6 inches below normal.
“Our big snowfall was the 25th and 26th. That spoiled my prediction (of a winter with less than 100 inches of snow),” Gregway noted. “If you take that 17.8 inches out of the equation, we’re way, way down on precipitation and snowfall, too.”
The area saw 18 percent of the possible amount of sunshine in February. That is 13 percentages below average.
The number of cloudy days, 24, was 5 above average.
The number of partly cloudy days, 4, was 2 below average.
The number of clear days, none, was 3 below average.
There were no thunderstorms or foggy days, both of which are normal.
The highest barometric pressure was 30.45 on the 4th and the lowest was 29.11 on the 26th.
There were snow pellets 4 times and ice pellets 4 times last month, but there was no freezing rain or glaze, according to Gregway.
The strongest winds were west-northwesterly at 25 to 30 mph on the 19th.
There were 7 days when wind speeds were greater than 20 mph, Gregway added.
February 2009 was warmer than last month.
It was 2.8 degrees warmer than average last February and the high was 50 degrees and the low 5 degrees, Gregway noted. All the lows for February 2010 were 32 degrees or colder, he said.
There were 2 days where the high was in the 50s and 3 days when it was in the 40s for February 2009.
The precipitation, 1.10 inches, was below average, he said, adding the snowfall for February 2009 was 12.6 inches.
For the winter, however, snowfall was 153.7 inches, which was 26.5 inches above normal.
The warmest February on record is 33 degrees in 2002; the coldest is 14.4 degrees in 1979.
The driest February is 1987 (0.67-inch of precipitation) and the wettest is 6.22 inches in 2008.
The most snow in February is 95.9 inches in 2007 and the least snow is 2.5 inches in 1957.
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