With a lull in precipitation, we thought we'd take the time to give you the results of the 2014-2015 winter season. Alright yes, the spring equinox is not for another three weeks, and with snow still on the ground how could we even be thinking about spring? But we meteorologists like to be different and define winter from December 1 through February 28 (or 29 during a leap year). So now that we're officially into March, we will share some results about this past winter. Some of them may even shock you. All data comes from the National Weather Service.
Oklahoma City (OKC)
Temperature
Average/Departure:
December 42.8° +2.2
January 40.4° +1.2
February 39.1° -4.6
Overall 40.8° -0.4
Extremes:
Highest 80° on February 14
Lowest 11° on January 8
Range 69°
Total Records:
Highs 4 (77° on 1/26, 78° on 1/27, 79° on 1/28, 78° on 2/8)
High Minimums 1 (47° on 12/13)
Lows 0
Low Maximums 1 (23° on 2/27)
Precipitation
Total/Departure:
December 0.84" -1.04
January 1.80" +0.41
February 0.41" -1.17
Overall 3.05" -0.60
Snowfall
Total/Departure:
December 3.5" +1.4
January T -2.8
February 4.6" +3.2
Overall 8.1" +0.6
Tulsa (TUL)
Temperature
Average/Departure:
December 42.5° +3.0
January 38.4° +0.7
February 36.0° -6.3
Overall 39.0° -0.9
Extremes:
Highest 80° on January 28
Lowest 7° on January 7 & 8
Range 73°
Total Records:
Highs 3 (72° on 1/19, 71° on 1/27, 79° on 2/8)
High Minimums 0
Lows 0
Low Maximums 0
Precipitation
Total/Departure:
December 1.97" -0.52
January 0.75" -0.91
February 1.57" -0.28
Overall 4.29" -0.57
Snowfall
Total/Departure:
December 2.0" -0.3
January T -2.7
February 5.8" +4.0
Overall 7.8" +0.3
OK, this is a lot of data to comprehend. What does it mean? First of all, we're going to have to throw out the notion that this was a "mild winter." Plenty of us will probably remember the string of warm days back in January and early in February, which set a few record highs. And hey, both December and January finished with average temperatures above normal in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. But then came February. Winter decided to show up late this year, and the latter half of February brought not just temperatures that were below normal but temperatures which were significantly below normal. In the past couple of weeks, average daily temperatures were generally between 10 and 30 degrees below average! That quickly dropped the overall average temperature for the month, causing February to be much below average across the state. Since February finished well below-average, the colder temperatures won in the end, causing the overall meteorological winter to finish below average for Oklahoma City and Tulsa. So this was not a mild winter!
As the temperatures finished below average, unfortunately, so did the precipitation. However, this winter was snowier than average. You may be asking yourself how this is possible. The National Weather Service in Norman provided an excellent explanation to this in a Facebook post earlier today. To quote them:
All snow is not created equal. With the very deep cold air masses we've seen over the past couple of weeks, we've seen a lot of dry powdery snow. This snow contains much less liquid than snow at warmer temperatures. This is why we can have more snowfall than normal with below average liquid precipitation for the month.With the ongoing drought, finishing the past three months with below-average precipitation is certainly not good news. More will certainly be appreciated this spring.
According to the Climate Prediction Center, there is a slight probability that March will also finish with an average temperature that is below normal. We have equal chances of seeing above or below average precipitation. In meteorological spring (March through May), there is a slight probability that the average temperature will finish below average, while equal chances exist that the precipitation is above or below average.
DISCOVER MORE:
March Temperature Outlook
March Precipitation Outlook
Spring Temperature Outlook
Spring Precipitation Outlook
AC
Sources: NWS Norman, NWS Tulsa, CPC
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