The quality controlled Iowa COOP data for February 2015 has been uploaded to the IEM. These observations are kindly provided by Harry Hillaker, our state climatologist, who passes along these notes on the month:

General Summary. Iowa temperatures averaged 14.0° or 10.0° below normal while precipitation totaled 1.17 inches or 0.12 inches above normal.   This ranks as the 10th coldest and 60th wettest February among 143 years of records.

Temperatures. Cold weather was the rule for most of the month as temperatures averaged above normal only for the five days from the 6th through the 10th.   The second one-half of the month was particularly cold as 7 of the final 11 days of February averaged more than twenty degrees below normal.   The first very cold air mass of the month settled in on the morning of the 5th when temperatures fell to -25° at Elkader with valley bottom temperatures falling to -23° as far south as Centerville.   The winter’s lowest temperatures occurred on the last two days of the month with Stanley recording -30° on the morning of the 27th with Elkader matching that  reading the next morning.   Elkader’s reading was the nationwide low (lower 48 states) on the 28th.    A lower temperature has been recorded later in the winter season in Iowa only three times (1948, 1960 and 1962).   Overall, temperatures fell to zero or lower on 18 days during the month.   Wind chill readings fell into the minus 30s on five days during the month with Clarion reporting the lowest wind chill at -38° on the morning of the 27th.   On the other extreme temperatures climbed to 51° at Keokuk on the 7th, Glenwood and Shenandoah on the 8th and at Clarinda and Shenandoah on the 25th.

Heating Degree Day Totals. Home heating requirements, as estimated by heating degree day totals, averaged 3% less than last February (which was 1.5° colder than this February) but was 24% greater than normal.   Degree day totals so far this season (since July 1) are running 8% less than last season at this time, but 4% more than normal.

Precipitation. The bulk of the month’s precipitation fell as snow and came in two events.   The largest event began on January 31 and continued into the evening of February 1.   Snow fell statewide with greatest amounts falling across central and east central Iowa with amounts up to 16.0 inches at Le Claire and 14.7 inches at Madrid.   A statewide average of 8.6 inches of snow fell with this storm which is the largest snow event since December 23-27, 2009.   Another event on the 25th brought widespread 3 to 6 inch snow totals to the northeast one-half of Iowa but only a dusting over the southwest counties.   Volga (Clayton Co.) reported the most snow with this event with 7.4 inches.   Snow also fell across the southern one-third of the state on the 4th with 6.5 inches reported at Shenandoah.   Monthly snowfall totals varied from 3.2 inches near Spirit Lake to 20.2 inches at Le Claire.   The statewide average snowfall was 12.8 inches or 6.0 inches above normal.   This ranks as the 10th snowiest February among 128 years of records.

Winter Summary. Temperatures over the mid-winter months of December, January and February averaged 21.1° or 1.0° below normal while precipitation totaled 2.87 inches or 0.47 inches less than normal.   This ranks as the 60th coolest and 55th driest winter among 142 years of records.

The following is the number of new daily records set at COOP sites based on data back to 1951.

                 2015___________2014_____________________________
                 FEB  JAN  DEC  NOV  OCT  SEP  AUG  JUL  JUN  MAY
Maximum High:     13  113   84   24   97   25   25    4   27   79
Minimum High:    364   65   60  634   89  267  161  399   37  235
Maximum Low:      25  135  451    5   56   86  113    8  122  102
Minimum Low:     345  111   28  550   22  180   33  330   58  171
Maximum Precip:  113   67  121   67  149  176  182  134  342   92

The following is a table summarizing how well the IEM daily data estimator is working in comparison to the quality controlled data.

                 2015
                 FEB   JAN
High Temp Bias   0.3   0.2
High Temp STD    2.8   2.5
Low  Temp Bias   0.3   0.1
Low  Temp STD    2.9   2.6
Precip    Bias  -0.16  0.01
Precip    STD    0.05  0.04