Phil Predicts Early Spring, but February Weather Can Be Brutal

Another huge crowd gathered at Gobbler's Nob this morning awaiting word from Punxsutawney Phil as to whether or not there will be six more weeks of Winter. Phil didn't disappoint. He did not see his shadow, meaning that we'll have an early Spring. This has been an active Winter season thus far, punctuated by the violent weather which arrived early Thursday morning. The midpoint of Winter, by the way, is this Monday, February 4, marking 45 days since the Winter Solstice and 45 days until the Vernal Equinox.



As for February, it brings an average of 7.2 inches of snow locally, trailing only January as the snowiest month of the year based on 40 years of climatology. There have been a couple of memorable snowstorms in February, including the 16-inch President's Day blizzard, Monday, February 17, 2003. That still stands as the snowiest February day on record. Other impressive snowstorms next month include the 15.9 inch storm on February 9, 1969, and 13 inches of snow on February 16, 1958. There were three other snowstorms with at least a foot of snow, most recently the 12.5 inches which fell on February 12, 2006.

The average daily temperatures begin to slowly climb during February, from a mean of 30 on February 1 to a mean of 35 by the end of the month. The average daily high temperature jumps from 37 to 41 degrees, and the average overnight low temperature increases from 23 to 28. The coldest February day on record across southwestern Connecticut was five degrees below zero on February 8, 1963. The mercury fell to three degrees below zero on February 2, 1961.

There have been several mild days in February, too. The warmest temperature ever recorded during the month was 67 degrees, established three times, most recently on February 27, 1997. There have been 12 dates in February on which the mercury reached at least 60 degrees, including 62 degrees, February 1, 2012. The warmest February on record locally happened in 1997 when the average temperature was 37.3 degrees.

On the flip side, the coldest February on record happened in 1978 when the average temperature was only 24.1 degrees. That was also the year of the famous blizzard when nearly a foot of snow fell on February 6, and the late-Governor Ella Grasso effectively "closed the state" due to the heavy snow and icy roadways.

The amount of daily sunshine continues to increase throughout the month. Today, for example, we enjoy a little more than 10 hours of daylight. However, by the last day of the month, the Sun is out for 11 hours and 16 minutes. That's an increase of one hour and 12 minutes! In fact, the Sun sets at 5:09 tomorrow afternoon, but it doesn't drop below the horizon until 5:42 on February 28. Sunrise also happens earlier throughout the month. The Sun appeared at 7:04 this morning, but it rises over a half-hour earlier (6:27) by the last day of the month!

Can Spring be far behind?

Paul