February...More Traditional Winter Weather

Monthly Highlights:

(1) Temperatures averaged near, to slightly below, normal for the month, a rather rare event for recent times. For example, since January 2010, this is only the 6th month with below normal temperatures at Sault Ste Marie (a total of 38 month's).

(2) A combination of lake effect and passing storms resulted in precipitation averaging above normal, with the greatest departures in the snowbelts. Sault Ste Marie (2.80 inches), Gaylord (3.13 inches), and Traverse City (3.21 inches) reported one of their top ten wettest February's on record.

(3) Snowfall was abundant, especially in the traditional snowbelt regions, where totals averaged several inches above normal. Both Traverse City (33.2 inches) and Gaylord (46.4 inches) reported one of their top ten snowiest February's on record.

February Temperature Data:

**Sault Ste Marie (1888 - 2013)**
February Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date	Coldest Temp/Date	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
16.5	17.6	-1.1	N/A	37 / 27th	-8 / 4th	29.1 / 1998	2.2 / 1934

**Houghton Lake (1919 - 2013)**
February Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date	Coldest Temp/Date	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
19.9	20.0	-0.1	N/A	40 / 19th*	-10 / 17th	30.1 / 1998	9.6 / 1936**

**Alpena (1916 - 2013)**
February Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date	Coldest Temp/Date	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
20.3	20.3	0.0	N/A	40 / 13th	-10 / 9th	29.7 / 1998	7.7 / 1934

**Traverse City Cherry Capital Airport (1897 - 2013)**
February Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date	Coldest Temp/Date	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
23.0	22.7	+0.3	N/A	44 / 11th	-3 / 9th	29.9 / 2012**	9.2 / 1979

**Gaylord** **COOP** **(1951 - 2001); Gaylord Airport (2001-2013)**
February Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date	Coldest Temp/Date	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
17.8	18.8	-1.0	N/A	38 / 19th*	-18 / 17th	29.9 / 1998	9.6 / 1963

February Precipitation Data:

**Sault Ste Marie (1888 - 2013)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr precipitation/date	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
2.80	1.34	+1.46	9th Wettest	1.15 / 18th-19th	15	3.74 / 1971	0.21 / 1993

**Houghton Lake (1919 - 2013)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr precipitation/date	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
1.70	1.21	+0.49	N/A	0.69 / 7th-8th	21	3.36 / 1971	0.15 / 2003

**Alpena (1916 - 2013)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr precipitation/date	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
1.71	1.32	+0.39	N/A	0.35 / 7th-8th	14	4.93 / 1922	0.12 / 1982

**Traverse City Airport (1930 - 1993); Traverse City COOP (2001 - 2013)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
3.21	1.76	+1.45	4th Wettest	4.14 / 1985	0.31 / 1935

**Gaylord Cooperative Observing Station (1940 - 2013)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
3.13	2.02	+1.11	6th Wettest	3.60 / 1971	0.29 / 2010

February Snowfall Data:

**Sault Ste Marie (1888 - 2013)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest daily snowfall/date	Days with measurable snowfall	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
31.4	18.6	+12.8	N/A	9.5 / 19th	19	41.3 / 1972**	2.2 / 1901

**Houghton Lake (1919 - 2013)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest daily snowfall/date	Days with measurable snowfall	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
18.2	12.4	+4.6	N/A	4.6 / 7th	18	25.3 / 1959	2.1 / 1937

**Alpena (1916 - 2013)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest daily snowfall/date	Days with measurable snowfall	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
17.3	17.5	-0.2	N/A	3.7 / 27th	13	35.3 / 2006	2.0 / 1998

**Traverse City Airport (1930 - 1993); Traverse City COOP (2001 - 2013)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
33.2	18.9	+14.3	5th Snowiest	46.8 / 1985	3.3 / 1987

**Gaylord Cooperative Observing Station (1940 - 2013)**
Snowfall	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Snowfall/Year	Least Snowfall/Year
46.4	25.4	+21.0	2nd Snowiest	58.0 / 2006	4.0 / 1998

- all averages are calculated using the new 1981 - 2010 period

( ) = Consistent years of record; Record temperature data for Gaylord is a combination of Gaylord Airport (2001-2011) and the Cooperative Observing Station records (1951-2001), Record precipitation data for Traverse City is a combination of Cherry Capital Airport (1930-1993) and the Cooperative Observing Station records (2001-2011)

- only rankings in the top 10 will be entered

* = Record occurred in multiple years/dates; latest year/date shown

** = Leap Year

**THESE DATA ARE PRELIMINARY AND HAVE NOT UNDERGONE FINAL QUALITY CONTROL BY THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER. THEREFORE, THESE DATA ARE SUBJECT TO REVISION. FINAL AND CERTIFIED CLIMATE DATA CAN BE ACCESSED AT WWW.NCDC.NOAA.GOV.*

For additional climate information and atmospheric and oceanic features that drive the patterns across our area, please visit the following links:

Latest Central Pacific Ocean Temperature Trends Large Scale Atmospheric Blocking Features Local Climate Home Page Latest Drought Information

* Data for Traverse City is derived from a composite of observations taken at both Cherry Capital Airport and the cooperative observing station at Munson Medical Center. This data is for informational purposes only and does not meet climatological standards. This data set may include periods with missing data…particularly snowfall data from 1996-2001.

**Data for Gaylord is derived from a composite of observations taken at both Gaylord-Otsego County Airport and the cooperative observing station located near downtown Gaylord. This data is for informational purposes only and does not meet climatological standards. This data set may include periods with missing data and data that has been recorded from different observing points throughout history.

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February...More Traditional Winter Weather