A very snowy February, but with average temperatures
The cold temperatures of January continued into the first 3 weeks of February. If that had continued it would have been one of coldest we have seen in a while, however the last week saw six days with highs above zero. This resulted in the overall temperature being just 0.2 degrees below average, keeping it within the average range.
Looking at the entire meteorological winter (December-January-February), the average temperature was a little more than one degree below average. This made it the coldest winter since 2014-15.
Of course we had those couple of big storms in the middle of the month, while the rest of the month saw pretty typical precipitation. This resulted in the total for the month of 65 mm being just bit higher than the average of 63.5 mm.
With the cold temperatures, most of that precipitation came down as snow, resulting in an incredible 77.5 cm of snowfall during February. This is more than double the average of 30.3 cm and the most we have seen for the month since the 93.0 cm in 2013. The total for the snowfall season so far is 191.0 cm, also well above the average of 125.6 cm and the most since 2008. Given that we never had a mid-winter thaw, pretty much all that snow is still sitting on everyone’s lawn resulting in accumulations not seen in many years.
It is also that time of year for the annual Weather Station Contest where you have to guess when the first time the station’s temperature will go above 20°C. You can get details about the contest and put in your guess here: https://weather.uwaterloo.ca/contest2025/contest_entry_period_2025.asp
Summary for February 2025:
Maximum Temperature 7.9°C
Minimum Temperature -19.7°C
Average Daily High Temperature -2.5°C (Long term average -1.3°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -10.0°C (Long term average -10.8°C)
Total Precipitation 65.0 mm (Long term average 63.5 mm)
(Long term averages based on 1998-2024 data from the Soulis Memorial Weather Station at the University of Waterloo).
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