43
2nd-coldest month in Valley since 1897
YOUNGSTOWN
How cold has it been this month?
“It will go down in the record books,” said Eric Wilhelm, chief meteorologist for 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner. “It’s pretty remarkable that this record-cold February was on top of a very cold January. The last seven weeks have been brutal.”
Consider these not-so-fun facts compiled from National Weather Service data and with Wilhelm’s assistance:
It’s the coldest February in the Mahoning Valley since weather information for the area was first recorded in 1897.
It’s the second-coldest month on record. The average temperature this month, not including today, is 13.9 degrees. That’s less than half the typical 28.6 degrees average temperature for February for the area. It will drop even more after today. The coldest month recorded is January 1977 with an average temperature of 10.2 degrees.
With an expected low today of 10 or 11 degrees below zero, this month will have the record-low temperature for eight dates in February. The coldest was Feb. 20 with a low of 16 below zero. The previous record for the most low temperatures in February was five in both 1963 and 1979. The year 1963 has four record-low dates in February. That’s because the 13 below zero temperature this Feb. 16 was 9 degrees lower than the old record for that date of minus 4 in 1963.
The temperature exceeded the average high on just five of the month’s 28 days. The last time the high temperature was greater than the average high was Feb. 8 when it was 47 degrees.
The minus 16 recorded Feb. 20 ties Feb. 9, 1934, as the coldest day on record in February. It’s also the seventh-lowest temperature for a day in the Valley’s recorded history. The other six were in January with 22 below zero on Jan. 19, 1994, being the coldest.
This is the third-snowiest February on record. There’s a 50 percent chance of snow tonight. If there’s no accumulation today, the area had 27.9 inches of snow for the month. The record for the most February snow is 36.3 inches in 1978. This month comes after the Valley had 29.3 inches of snow in January, the eighth-most on record for that month in this area.
Today is the 55th consecutive day of at least 1 inch of snow on the ground. The record is 62 days during the winter of 1977-78.
There’s not a lot of good news for March either.
“March is going to be below normal in temperature,” said Tom King, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
The average temperature for March is 36.8 degrees.
The high temperature will get into the low 30s on Sunday, the first day of March.
The area also is expected to get between 4 and 6 inches of snow that day, Wilhelm said.
“March comes in like a snowy lion,” he said.
The NWS forecast for Monday states there’s a 50 percent chance for snow showers.
Snow and rain are likely for Tuesday with a high around 40. Ice also is expected that day, Wilhelm said.
“During the second week in March, we’ll hopefully have a few days where it will be close to normal,” he said. “The average high for that time is around 43 degrees, which will seem like paradise to us.”