February Temperature Outlook In PA Looks Nothing Like 1904 Record

PENNSYLVANIA — February temperatures in Pennsylvania could be relatively balmy, according to an updated outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.

Overall, the temperature outlook for the last month of meteorological winter favors well-above-normal temperatures in the northern half of the nation, and near-average temperatures in parts of the Southwest and Southeast, according to the forecast.

Precipitation, whether as rain or snow, looks to be above average across large parts of the southern, central, and southeastern parts of the country, but well below average in the Pacific Northwest and around the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, and in the Northeast, according to the outlook.

The projection for Pennsylvania leans toward the probability that temperatures will be higher than normal this month.

In the northwestern part of the state, there is a 40-5o percent probability that temperatures will be above normal. In the southeastern part of the state, there is a 33-40 percent chance that temperatures will be above normal.

So far this month, Pennsylvania has seen unseasonably warm high temperatures in the upper 40s and lower 50s, with lows rarely dipping below the 30s. The seven-day forecast calls for highs mostly in the 40s, but reaching up to 60 degrees Saturday and 52 degrees Sunday.

Historically, February can bring some of the coldest temperatures of winter. In Pennsylvania, the coldest day on record was Jan. 5, 1904, when the thermometer registered 42 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in Smethport.

February 2023 was the third-warmest on record nationwide since record-keeping began in 1895, according to another Climate Prediction Center report. In Pennsylvania, temperatures last February fell into the "much above average" category, only a step down from the "record warmest."

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