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February's cold has been historic in Valley
YOUNGSTOWN
While it should be above freezing today for the first time since Feb. 11, this could be the coldest February in Mahoning Valley weather history.
As of Friday, the average temperature for the month was 15.2 degrees. That average temperature is the full-month record for the coldest February, which happened in 1934, according to National Weather Service statistics.
As of Friday, the area’s average temperature was about 12 degrees below normal for the first 20 days of February.
This February will “definitely be in the top-three coldest and has a shot at the top spot,” said Karen Oudeman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
During just this week, the Valley had record lows on four days — minus 8 on Sunday, minus 13 on Monday, minus 8 on Thursday and minus 16 on Friday. The 11-below- zero reading Tuesday wasn’t enough to be a record low for that day. The low for that day was minus 14 in 1979.
Friday’s 16 below zero tied Feb. 9, 1934, as the coldest day in February.
It led to the cancellation of numerous schools.
Youngstown police dealt with several accidents when the morning commute began Friday, which closed off state Route 711 southbound and Interstate 680 in both directions around the Market Street and Glenwood Avenue exits for a period of time in the morning.
Lt. William Ross of the department’s traffic unit attributed the crashes to drivers going too fast for the slippery conditions.
No one was seriously injured in any of the crashes. The accident on state Route 711 involved nine vehicles.
The area will get a break from the low temperatures today with the high expected to be in the mid-30s, Oudeman said. But the increased temperature — still below the normal high of 38 degrees for this time of the year — also will bring about 4 inches of snow that will start midday and stop around midnight, she said.
“We’re still running well below the normal high temperatures for this time of the year,” Oudeman said. “We haven’t seen our normal low [between 20 and 22 degrees] as a high temperature since Feb. 14.”
The expected high for Sunday is near 30 degrees.
And then the cold returns with a low of 1 below zero Sunday night. On Monday, the high is expected to be 6 degrees with a low of minus 1 at night.
The NWS measures weather at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna and has records dating back to 1897.
As of Friday, the Valley had 20.8 inches of snow, already the eighth-most for February for the area. If the Valley gets the predicted 4 inches today, this month would jump to the fourth-snowiest February on record. The most is 36.3 inches in 2010.