NOTE – Rainfall and temperature information is based on data kept at Milford Lake by the Corps of Engineers. For more information contact Chuck Otte, 238-4161.
February 2017 Weather Summary
The weather for February was just about normal…for March that is. In fact the average temperatures were even slightly above normal for March. But this was February and having these kinds of temperatures this early may lead to problems on down the road.
The average daily high for February was 56.5, 12.2 degrees above normal. The average overnight low was 33.4, 11.5 degrees above normal. This gave us a monthly mean temperature of 44.9, 11.8 degrees above normal. February 2017 will go into the records books as the second warmest February on record. Only February of 1954, with a monthly mean temperature of 46.3 was warmer. The average overnight low for February was the warmest average low for any February on record. The average daily highs on 19 of 28 days during the month were more than five degrees above average. The highest temperature for the month was 75 on the 16th. That was 30 degrees higher than the average daily high for that date. The lowest temperature in February was the morning low of 17 on the 8th. There were three temperature records set during February and two that were tied. The high of 75 on the 16th broke the old record high for that date of 70 degrees set in 2011. The overnight lows of 49 on the 21st and 52 on the 28th broke the previous record high low temperatures for those dates. The previous records, respectively, were 48 set in 2000 and 48 set in 1981. The high of 74 on the 17th tied the record high for that date, first set in 1970. The overnight low of 42 on the 16th also tied the record high low for that date, which was first set in 1961.
February is one of our drier months with average precipitation of 1.12 inches. We were below that with just 0.45 inches recorded at Milford Lake and 0.49 inches in Junction City. Because January was above average precipitation, though, year to date we are still above normal with 2.05 inches in Junction City and 2.02 inches at Milford Lake. Normal through February is 1.77 inches. January and February are historically our two snowiest months with 4.7 inches expected each month. All we could muster in February was a trace of snow. Season to date we average 14.1 inches of snowfall by the end of February. This year we have seen only 2.5 inches of snowfall.
Before we get too excited about an early spring however, we need to be aware that even with a warm February, we can still have a March that is average or below average. Average daily highs for March begin the month at 49 and end the month at 61. Overnight lows would be expected to range from 25 on the 1st to 37 on the 31st. With warmer weather we expect increased rainfall during March with an average of 2.95 inches. While I don’t know if we will get there this year, we also see long range average snowfall for the month of just over three inches. Record highs for March generally are in the 80s. The all time hottest March day was 90 degrees on March 29, 1967. But to balance that out, three years ago on March 2nd we had a morning low of minus 4 degrees!