No, You Weren't Imagining It: February Was 3rd Coldest On Record In NJ

If you were one of those people swearing last month that you had never been so cold, turns out you were probably right.

A report from New Jersey State Climatologist David A. Robinson says this February was the third coldest since record-keeping began in 1895. It also tied for the sixth-coldest month overall.

Robinson, in his monthly recap of the weather in the state, said the average temperate for February was 22 degrees, 11.8 degrees below average. Only 1934, with an average of 17.9 degrees, and 1979, at 21.9 degrees, were colder. Just three times did the state record temperatures of 50 degrees or higher in February, while it has a stretch of nine straight days with temperatures below zero.

On Feb. 21, temperatures bottomed out across much of the state, with Howell recording a low of -7, Wall recording -11 degrees, and Point Pleasant recording 6 degrees above zero. The Office of Climatology has 53 weather stations around the state, but does not have one in Brick.

While it was one of the coldest Februaries ever, it was also somewhat drier, recording an average of 2.34 inches combined of melted snow and rain across the state, because despite the amount of snow that fell in some spots -- topping out at 20.9 inches of snow that contributed to a rain/melted snow total of 3.56 inches in Freehold, with Howell (3.4 inches), Jackson (3.39), Belmar (3.35) and Fair Haven (3.12) all marking more than 3 inches of rain/snowmelt. But Morris County had some of the lowest precipitation numbers, with Long Hill and Roxbury townships barely registering 1.5 inches.

The cold temperatures held the rain/melted snow totals down, because the state received about 4.2 inches more snow than normal -- about 12.3 inches on average -- and the snow stayed around longer, exceeding 10 inches in the north and 5 in the south.