February’s warmth contrasts with last year’s chill

What a difference a year makes.

Last winter was the third coldest on record, featuring a February that was also the coldest month in about 30 years.

This winter, which wrapped up Monday, was on track to be the warmest since 1984 when records started being kept at Long Island MacArthur Airport. This would be meteorological winter which from December through February.

December made the biggest contribution to warmest winter honors, coming in at more the 12 degrees above normal, said Jessica Spaccio, climatologist with the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. “January and February were above normal, around 3 degrees, but didn’t have the large anomaly that December did,” she said.

December was flooded with records for daily highs and warmest lows, and an eye-popping 64 degrees on Christmas Eve day

In all, winter registered an average of 38.9 degrees for the season as of Sunday, which was expected to beat out the 38.6 seen in 2001/2002, Spaccio said.

Also impressive was late January’s blizzard that broke the airport’s one day snowfall record with its 23.4 inches and “brought more snow than is typically seen in an entire season,” she said.

Winter’s precipitation, which includes rain, and melted ice and snow, was 13.78 inches, compared to a norm of 10.96, with 38 inches of snow, and 19.2 inches of snow the norm.

This picture is in keeping with the outlook issued back in October by the Climate Prediction Center, calling for a mild, but wet winter, with a nod to a strong El Nino. That’s a climate pattern that starts with a warming of the Pacific and that affects weather worldwide.

Long Island “experienced a typical El Nino winter,” Spaccio said – “temperatures, on average, were well above normal. Coastal storms brought above average snowfall.”

Looking ahead, the outlook for March is for a 50 to 60 percent chance for above normal temperatures – as opposed to below or right at average, the prediction center says. The monthly norm is 39.3 degrees.

No call was made for precipitation, with the center indicating an equal chance for above, below and right at normal, which is 4.44 inches.

Nearer term, “overall, four of the next seven days will be right around average,” said Matt Hammer, News 12 Long Island meteorologist. Wednesday is looking to be the warmest, approaching 48 degrees, with Friday the coldest, near 34.