It was one cold February for most of the country. Temperatures plunged to historic lows in some parts of the U.S., including nearly all of Texas, as an Arctic air mass gripped much of the nation.
For six states — Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma — February 2021 placed among the top 10-coldest Februaries on record, while Texas had its 11th-coldest February.
So how cold was it?
The average temperature across the contiguous U.S. last month was 30.6 degrees, 3.2 degrees below the 20th-century average. The low temperatures marked the 19th-coldest February in the 127-year record.
It was also the coldest February since 1989.
Florida was the country’s warm spot
Of course, Florida saw great weather in February. Tampa’s average temperature was 67.3 degrees, 3.9 degrees above normal for the month.
The warmest day was 85 degrees on Feb. 27. The coldest morning was 42 degrees on Feb. 4.
With some parts of Tampa Bay abnormally dry, it was a pretty good month of precipitation. Tampa picked up 3.74 inches of rainfall, which is .93 inches above normal for February.
Winter overall was warm
Despite the record cold in February, it was actually warmer than normal for the winter. The average temperature was 33.6 degrees, 1.4 degrees above average, placing winter 2021 in the warmest third of the winter record. Maine had its third-warmest winter; California had its 12th warmest.
Three notable winter weather events
A brutally cold month for Texans: February 2021 brought the coldest air since December 1989 to much of the state. Several locations across central Texas broke records for the longest streak of below-freezing temperatures. Every county in Texas was under a Winter Storm Warning in mid-February and experienced wind chill values below zero as far south as the Rio Grande River and northeastern Mexico.
Alaska was colder than usual: Alaska saw its coldest February in 22 years. In Anchorage, the temperature never rose above 30 degrees Fahrenheit for the entire month. It's the first month since December 1998 with all daily high temperatures remaining below freezing.
Drought got a bit worse: According to the U.S. Drought Monitor report, 46.6% of the contiguous U.S. was in drought at the beginning of March, up slightly from 45.8% at the beginning of February. Drought expanded or intensified across portions of the northern and southern Plains, and Great Basin.
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