PRECIPITATION

With 23 of the 28 days recording measurable precipitation, needless to say there were no extended dry periods. This stopped the pattern that had persisted in each of the previous months that are normally the wettest of the year. There were no flooding concerns as no large winter storms affected the area, with only one day receiving more than 0.60″ (1.03″ on the 11th). Included with the much colder-than-normal temperatures were the first snowflakes of the season. There were 3 separate accumulating snowfalls, two occurring in the first 10 days, the third extending over the month’s final 5 days (with three of these days seeing accumulation). A total of 1.6″ fell from the 4th-5th, another 3.6″ from the 8th-9th, and finally 2.7″ recorded from the 24th-25th and 27th, though flakes were seen every day from the 24th-28th. We actually dodged a huge bullet at the end of the month as a storm system moving south from the Gulf of Alaska narrowly missed slamming our area with heavy snow, instead moving slightly south of the area and hitting central and southern Oregon hard. The very heavy, wet snow brought down many trees and power lines, costing millions of dollars in damage, and causing the hardest hit areas to go several weeks without electricity.  Please see meteorologist and fellow WeatherTogether contributor (and founder) Charlie Phillips’s excellent blog about this event: http://charlie.weathertogether.net/2019/02/27/a-historic-snowstorm-for-the-south-valley/

For the month, there were 2 clear, 7 partly cloudy, and 17 cloudy days. After a mild winter up until this month, it caused some area plants to break ground, bud, or even bloom. February stopped this dead in its tracks, even killing the annuals that had survived up until this point in time.