The latest monthly and seasonal climate summary for the US was released by NOAA today. You can read about it at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-201802. During February, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 35.4°F, 1.6°F above the 20th century average. This ranked among the warmest third of the 124-year period of record. The February precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 2.84 inches, 0.71 inch above average. This was the sixth highest February precipitation total on record for the nation and the highest since 1998. Record precipitation fell over a large part of the interior U.S., with parts of the West, Central Plains, and Southeast being drier than average. As you can see from the maps below, the Southeast was record warm in February, which contributed to the early blooming of many flowering shrubs and trees. The heaviest rain in the US in February was to our northwest.
