Welcome to February! According to various sources, the name for the shortest month of the year was derived from "Februalia", an ancient Roman festival of purification at this time of year (before the new year that commenced with the spring equinox in March), during which sacrifices were made to atone for sins. Since this "normal" year follows a leap year, this February only has 28 days.
The following discussion is based upon the major weather features appearing on Wednesday night's surface weather maps:
WELCOME RAINS ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST -- A band of rainshowers and embedded thunderstorms were found along a stationary front that ran from near Jacksonville, FL southwestward across the Gulf of Mexico. The stationary front had previously been a cold front that had moved southward across the Southeast on Tuesday evening and then stalled. Since much of north Florida are under extreme drought conditions, this rain has been extremely welcome. As of Wednesday evening, 24 hour rainfall accumulations were on the order of one-half inch at various locations across the Florida Panhandle and adjacent locales. Rain, which also was associated with this stationary front, was also falling across the lower Rio Grande Valley near Brownsville, TX, which also was experiencing moderate drought conditions.
The front and the precipitation band should remain essentially stationary through Thursday evening. Between 0.50 and 0.75 inches of rain could fall in the 24 hours ending on Friday morning across coastal Georgia, the Florida Panhandle and the northern portion of the Florida Peninsula.
SNOW LINGERS ACROSS NEW ENGLAND -- A storm system in the Gulf of Maine, coupled with a cold front that moved southward from eastern Canada, produced snow from northern New York State eastward into northern Maine. The offshore storm system was the remnants of a storm system that moved across the Midwest earlier in the week. A winter storm warning was continued for eastern Maine. Several weak low pressure centers developed along the cold front. Lake-enhanced snow was falling across Upstate New York.
Additional weak low pressure centers are forecast to develop along the cold front and move across New England on Thursday, spreading snow across interior Maine.
MORE COLD AIR FOR THE NORTHERN PLAINS -- A cold air mass associated with a large high pressure cell situated over the northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan was pushing southeastward into the northern Plains. The leading edge of this arctic air was a cold front that as of Wednesday evening stretched southwestward from a weak low pressure center located just to the north of the Arrowhead of northeast Minnesota into South Dakota before curving to the northwest. By early evening, temperatures in North Dakota to the north of this cold front had fallen below zero with wind-chill equivalent temperatures to 40 degrees below zero. Just to the south of the front, temperatures remained near 20 degrees above zero. While some clouds accompanied the front, little snow fell because of a lack of available moisture. Some snow was falling across western South Dakota and Nebraska. Some lake-enhanced snow fell across the western Great Lakes in association with the low pressure to the north of Minnesota.
The cold air is expected to continue its advance to the south and east as the high pressure center travels south-southwestward into the Dakotas by Thursday evening. By that time, the cold front should have swept southward and eastward, with the southern end of the front reaching north Texas. Near the northern end of the front, the low pressure system is forecast to move eastward across Lake Superior, reaching the eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Lake-effect snow watches and warnings for those areas downwind of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula.
CHILLY WEATHER IN THE WEST -- High pressure centered over the Great Basin maintained chilly conditions across much of the West on Wednesday. With clear skies and weak winds, Eureka, NV reported a record low temperature on Wednesday morning of 9 degrees below zero. Afternoon high temperatures were as much as 15 degrees below the average highs for the end of January across northern New Mexico, in part, a result of the extensive fresh snow cover.
The high pressure center is expected to drift a short distance toward the southeast on Thursday. Milder air from the Pacific is expected to move across Montana to the north of the high. The leading edge of these westerly winds will be associated with a warm front that should move eastward across the northern Rockies and onto the northern Plains late Thursday. Moisture accompanying this westerly flow should produce snow across the region. As a result, a winter storm watch was posted for western Montana and northern Idaho, while snow advisories were in effect for the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming and neighboring south central Montana.
On the southern flank of the high pressure center, easterly winds continue to remain strong, the result of a tight pressure gradient between the high and lower pressure over the eastern Pacific off Southern California. Gusts to over 75 mph could occur in the various canyons and mountains to include the Santa Ana Mountains. As a result, a high wind warning was continued for the Los Angeles Basin.
MORE STORMY WEATHER FOR THE NORTHWEST -- Another storm system is expected to reach the Washington and Oregon coast by late Thursday evening. While this system was hundreds of miles off the coast as of Wednesday night, the winds preceding the system were expected to begin to increase hours before the storm reached the Mainland. Gale warnings for winds between 39 and 5 mph were in effect for the Washington and Oregon coasts from Point Saint George CA northward, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
TEMPERATURE EXTREMES IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S. -- Wednesday morning's lowest temperature was 17 degrees below zero at Alamosa and Craig, CO, while the Wednesday afternoon highest temperature was 85 degrees at Fort Pierce and Vero Beach, FL.
ALASKAN WEATHER --Two storm systems continued to spread clouds and precipitation to portions of southern and southeast Alaska on Wednesday afternoon. The stronger storm system, with a deep low pressure center, was moving northeastward and was just to the southeast of Kodiak Island. An occluded front associated with this storm system curved to the east, along the north Gulf coast before curving southward across the Panhandle. The other storm system was moving toward the east-northeast across the eastern Bering Sea approximately 200 miles to the southwest of Bethel. Snow fell at many locations across southern Alaska from Cold Bay eastward to Valdez, while rain fell over the Southeast. Widely scattered snow was also reported across the interior and the North Slope.
The lowest temperature in Alaska on Wednesday morning was 27 degrees below zero at Nuiqsut and the highest statewide temperature as of Wednesday afternoon was 49 degrees at Klawock.
HAWAIIAN WEATHER -- The subtropical ridge of high pressure to the north of the Hawaiian Islands produced pleasant weather and moderate trade winds over islands on Wednesday. A slight weakening of this ridge is expected by Friday as a low pressure system and trailing cold front travels eastward across the North Pacific to the north of the islands. Ocean swell that was generated by a storm several days before by a storm in the North Pacific has reached the islands, producing surf with heights that were reaching 10 to 15 feet on some of the northwest facing beaches of Kauai and Oahu. As a result high surf advisories were posted for the northwest shores of all the islands.
JANUARY EXTREMES -- The monthly climatological data for the just-concluded month of January are currently being compiled and analyzed. However, the National Climate Data Center (NCDC) has provided a preliminary list of the Selected U.S. City and State Extremes January 2001 that includes several noteworthy extremes in the temperature, precipitation and snowfall records across the nation.
AIR MASSES -- For an additional explanation of air masses and their properties, call up the Thursday's optional Supplemental Information.
From the files of the Aviation Weather Center, Kansas City, MO and Intellicast
Return to Online Weather Homepage
Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2001, The American Meteorological Society.