Although it may seem like a distant memory, January and February 2021 couldn’t have been more different in terms of the weather pattern. While snow was hard to come by through most of January due to above normal temperatures, February turned into arguably one of the wintriest months in recent seasons.
January won’t be the main focus given how snowy February was, but it is important to at least highlight the differences. January 2021 did have smaller events that mainly impacted the interior Northeast and New England. Two in particular were on January 3rd and the 25th, both of which left several inches of snowfall behind, the latter upwards of half a foot. Beyond that though, the month was consistently on the “warm side” up until the very last few days, generally averaging 5 to 10 degree above normal. Precipitation-wise, up to 1.50 - 2.50” of liquid fell, although this was still a bit below the usual for much of the region. Snowfall was generally half of the average, however, even areas south of the Mason-Dixon Line managed to pick up at least a few inches.
What caused the almost instantaneous flip to the cold and snow in February? Broadly speaking, it was the breakdown of the polar vortex, which initially spread cold and snow across Siberia and Europe, then eventually led to frigid air masses invading North America. This pattern change was accompanied by a highly organized system at the tail of January that would last until February 2nd, making for a remarkably long duration event not seen in many years. This system brought a massive amount of snow to the Northeast and a prolonged cold snap. While below normal temperatures didn’t persist for all of February, two lengthy outbreaks of cold air and nearly back-to-back smaller disturbances made their mark.
Of course, the 3-day nor’easter was the most notable storm, hitting parts of the Hudson Valley, northeastern NJ and northeastern PA the hardest, with 1-3” per hour snowfall rates. In general, these heavy rates combined with the prolonged snowfall left over 30” of snowfall for these areas! Elsewhere, 1 to 2 feet of snow fell in Connecticut, interior Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Even areas into Virginia measured several inches of the white stuff. On the 2nd day, the coastal plain dealt with freezing drizzle as well, adding ice to an already large snowpack. Furthermore, high winds gusting well over 40 mph also made for a difficult cleanup to the say the least.
February certainly began with a bang, and the cold pattern that followed resulted in a number of winter storms. Although there was a plethora of storms, three systems stood out on February 7th, 11th, and 18 - 19th. The first two were coastal storms that dropped a general 6 - 12” of snowfall in the I-95 corridor, with variable amounts based on the concentration of heavy snow bands. The 18-19th storm had the feel of the one at the beginning of the month. While this was nowhere near the totals of the first, it went on for two days with a decent period of mixing in-between. This resulted in a glaze of ice for several spots along the Blue Ridge into the Hudson Valley. The Catskills and northeastern PA also saw an impactful ice storm on the 15th and 16th, which left up to 0.50” of ice across the hills!
February’s temperatures began to moderate by the last week of the month, but the warming wouldn’t take full effect until March. As a whole, NYC was left with its 8th snowiest February ever at 26.0”. Allentown, PA went even further with 39.6”, which was the 2nd snowiest February on record! Likewise, Scranton, PA also saw its second snowiest at 28.3”. With the exception of Maryland and Virginia, nearly all the cities in our forecast area saw double their usual snowfall for the month. With that said, Baltimore and the D.C. were still left with several inches, which was a turnaround from recent years. As for temperatures, it wasn’t the coldest February, as most spots generally fell around 1 degree or so below average.
