Vermont February, No Surprise, Was Wet And Warm For Winter

Snow and ice cover trees in St. Albans, Vermont on February 9.
February was somewhat warm, with plenty of mixed precipitation
across Vermont. 

Today, March 1, represents the start of spring. At least to climatologists.

True, it's a wintry day out there in Vermont, with fresh snow on the ground in many places and temperatures that are expected to only make it into the low 20s.

However, climatologists who measure the weather in seasons regard meteorological spring as the period from March 1 through May 31. So winter is over. Yay.  

Not that the last part of winter was extreme.  I'll admit February in Vermont was a true winter month, with plenty of snow in many areas and temperatures that didn't break any record highs to speak of.

But it was warm, and on the wet side. Consistent with the rest of the winter, we had our share of mixed precipitation in the Green Mountain State.

Official, the mean February temperature in Burlington was 24.8 degrees, which was 3.3 degrees on the warm side. That's not remotely close to even the top 10 warmest Februaries, but there's no doubt we didn't exact have icebox conditions, either.

There was 2.3 inches of rain and melted snow and ice in Burlington during February, which was about a half inch on the plus side. Again, wet, but not in the top ten wettest list.

It was also a snowy February in Burlington. It amounted to 21.4 inches, which is five inches snowier than average. Once again, nowhere near any records for snow, though.

Elsewhere in Vermont, departures from normal in February were remarkably consistent, much more than in most months.  Montpelier, St. Johnsbury, Morrisville and St. Johnsbury were all near or somewhat more than two degrees warmer than normal. All of these stations were wetter than normal for February, but not by a large margin.

February was good for snow in many of Vermont's mountains. The month started with about 46 inches of snow on the ground atop Mount Mansfield and ended with 83 inches covering the ground near the summit.

While February temperatures didn't set records for warmth, the winter as a whole was quite warm.  December 1 through February 29 averaged 26.1 degrees for what is climatological winter in Burlington.  That's the seventh warmest winter on record. This means five of the top ten warmest winters in Burlington were in this century, the 2000s.

Elsewhere in New England, Boston had its second warmest winter on record. Providence was fifth warmest, and Worcester was seventh warmest.

It wasn't just New England. You're going to hear of a number of United States and overseas citys and even nations having their warmest winter on record this year as data comes in over the next coming days.