The second month of this year was quite a roller coaster ride in the weather department in Iowa. There were a couple of big snowstorms, but state climatologist Harry Hillaker says most Iowans will remember this February for an extended period of unusually warm temperatures between the 16th and 22nd.
For the entire month, the preliminary statewide average temperature was 34.4 degrees.
Hillaker said. It could end up being the second warmest February on record once all the numbers are tallied. The warmest month of February ever recorded in Iowa was in 1954, with a statewide average temperature of 35.5. The second warmest was 1998 at 34.8 degrees. There were also some very cold temperatures across the state last month, with the coldest recording at Little Sioux, which hit three-below-zero on February 9th.
Many areas of southern Iowa have received less than six inches of snow this entire winter. Meanwhile, snowfall totals over the northern half of the state are well above normal.
Hillaker says despite the warm temperatures, there have been two years, 1930 and 1982, when some 80 degrees were recorded in February.
