'Meteorological' winter was mild, defined by blizzard

The 35.5 inches of snow in Islip the past three months may have been well above the average 19.4 inches for December, January and February -- the time frame forecasters call "meteorological" winter.

But, had it not been for the Feb. 8-9 blizzard, which dumped 27.8 inches at Long Island MacArthur Airport, "a big snow drought" would be recorded "instead of over a foot above normal," said Dan Hofmann, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Upton. Take the blizzard out of the snow picture, he said, and, "we really didn't have that much at all."

As for average monthly temperatures, February's was 32.1 degrees, which is .7 below normal. That's a dip from last year's 38.1 degrees for the month.

Still, the "meteorological" winter overall was mild, with an above average temperature of 35.2, which is 2.2 degrees above normal for that three-month period, the weather service said.

December recorded a monthly average of 40.5 degrees, which is 4.9 degrees above normal, and January saw 33.1, up 2.5 degrees above normal.

Those higher temperatures may continue, as forecasters predict a warmer than normal spring.

There's a more than 40 percent chance that the region will see above average temperatures -- rather than normal or lower than normal -- for March, April and May, the weather service said. Islip's average monthly temperature is 39.6 degrees in March, 49.5 degrees in April and 58.9 degrees in May, according to the weather service.

"Spring is coming," said Hofmann -- or is already here, meteorologically speaking.