AUSTIN, Texas — We’ve had such an interesting winter with a fair share of warm days and a lion’s share of cold snaps.
That included a dusting of snow on Jan. 21 that was part of a widespread, cataclysmic snowstorm along the Gulf Coast which saw areas like New Orleans record up to 10 inches of snow – a rarity for that part of the country.
However, for us locally, there were some surprises this past winter, especially in February, so let’s get into the details as well as what we could expect for March.
February and winter climate totals
February saw a huge surprise in the temperature averages when Camp Mabry recorded an average temperature that was 2.7 degrees below normal.
The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center took a huge swing and a miss on this forecast, where the month was previously projected to be above normal. The cold snap from Feb. 18-20 likely played a large role in this, as lows got down to the teens on the morning of the 19th with single-digit wind chills, marking the coldest air of the winter.
Additionally, we’ve had a drier February than normal, with a total of 1.62 inches of precipitation, which is nearly 0.3 of an inch below normal for February, which is not good news for our drought situation.
As for winter as a whole, while from a temperature standpoint, we’ve been on par with our seasonal averages, we were well short of our precipitation averages.
For instance, we tracked an average temperature of 53.2 degrees, which is only 0.2 degrees shy of the average during the winter season. However, we recorded a scant 4.83 inches of precipitation, which is almost 2.5 inches below average for winter, which is not good news for our drought situation.
Looking ahead to March
As we head into March, we’re tracking a high likelihood of both above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation, which not only is a bad omen for our drought situation but also sits perfectly in line with a La Niña pattern.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on trends throughout March to see if the Climate Prediction Center is on their “A” game this month, or whether it’s another swing and a miss from a temperature standpoint. The seven-day outlook is below, which is on par with the latest guidance.
