CINCINNATI -- The day has arrived, Tri-State! Our long-advertised abnormal wave of warm air has moved into the area. We’re expected to see upper 50s and low 60s Friday, followed by mainly mid-60s for the next seven days.
Given that this will be a far cry from what we’ve experienced in past Februaries, I decided to take a look at some of the extremes that we’ve had on Feb. 17 over the last couple years. While we’re heading for 60 this year, that was not the case over the last two years.
Remember wind chills of -23 degrees? Me either.
What happened during this same time last year? Actually, it was pretty normal. We saw highs in the mid- to upper-30s, with lows in the mid-20s. We had a TRACE of snow on Feb. 17, 2016. Just a few days before, back on Valentine’s Day, we had 2.9 inches of snow. A few days after the 17th, we actually saw a huge warm-up as highs hit 72 degrees on Feb. 20, which set the record high for the day. For the month of February 2016, we actually ended up with 8.4 inches of snow. Most of that fell in the first 14 days of the month. The latter half of the month was dominated by above-average warmth.
Temperatures for February 2016
2015 was an entirely different animal. It was all about winter, with lots of snow and plenty of frigid cold air from Canada. On today’s date in 2015, we had a record low temperature of -7 degrees. The high temperature only reached 28 degrees. For the next few days following that record low, we were stuck in a bitter cold air mass with temperatures falling below zero on the 19th, 20th and 24th. Record lows were set on those days as well, hitting -6 on the 19th, -12 on the 20th and -7 on the 24th. Wind chills were as low as -25! Snowfall was frequent as well. During that same bitter cold period of weather from Feb. 16 to 21, we saw three snowstorms. The first dropped 6.3 inches of snow on Feb. 16. The second dropped 4.5 inches of snow on Feb. 18. The third dropped 5.9 inches of snow on Feb. 21. In all, we ended up with 18.6 inches of snow that February!
Temperatures for February 2015
For the next week, high temperatures will hit at least 60. Overnight lows will not fall below 40 for the next week, with some nights not falling below 50. There is an absolute zero percent chance of snow on the seven-day forecast. What a difference from the last couple of years, especially when you look at 2015!
