February 2021 Summary

A cold February with just barely average precipitation

It looks like the “real” winter this year was the 2 week period in the middle of February, as the season up to that point was running well above average.  The month saw multiple days when the temperature went down to nearly -20°C and barely reached above -10°C during the day.  Even though there was a bit of a warm up the last few days, the overall temperature was still 2 degrees less than average, making it the coldest February since 2015.

Not much to say about the precipitation this month, no particularly large storms just a few systems that came through every week or so.  The total precipitation at 39.7 mm was a lot less than the average of 54.9 mm and the driest since 2014, but it was enough to put it into the average range.

Almost half of the total snowfall for the month of 38.5 cm came on the 16th when 17 cm came down, the total for February was above the average of 30.3 cm.  The total for the snowfall season of 128.0 cm is very close to the 125.6 cm we would expect at this point in the season.

Summary for February 2021:

Maximum Temperature 7.2°C
Minimum Temperature -23.6°C
Average Daily High Temperature -2.2°C (Long term average -1.2°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -12.9°C (Long term average -9.7°C)
Total Precipitation 39.7 mm (Long term average 54.9 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1981-2010 data for the Waterloo-Wellington Airport)