Why February’s been so warm

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — This week, those in the ArkLaTx are experiencing their first dose of what the upcoming spring months will feel like.

The high temperature Tuesday, Feb. 21 was 88°, about 25° above normal for this time of year. It also broke the record for the warmest day in February in Shreveport since 1996, when the afternoon high hit 87° on Feb. 21 of that year.

“One thing that can contribute to the warmth is the fact that we are in La Niña and we’ve been in there in that mode, which kind of revolves around temperatures in the Pacific and that can help give us warmer winters than usual,” said Brad Bryant, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Shreveport. “And it really hasn’t given us warmer Februarys than usual the past couple of years, but we’re definitely on track for an above-average February in terms of temperatures.”

During Tuesday’s severe weather preparedness news conference, NWS meteorologist Brandon Thorne suggested that spring is near and that the warm weather is an indication that severe weather season is approaching.

“What we’re looking at right now is we’ve just been, we’re getting more of the southwest flow, which is kind of pumping in some warm air vection, giving us some warmer temperatures,” he said.

“And, yeah, that’s always an indication that spring is here, which also means our severe weather season is going to begin soon. And so it’s just important to again make sure we have a plan in place.”

Although the temperatures are a bit higher this week, that does not mean we should cancel the chances for cold and even freezing temperatures.

“I wouldn’t say winter is over quite yet,” Bryant said. “Generally this far South, people like to judge are we going to see another freeze. They start to think about getting their gardens going. And I would not be doing that just yet. I think we should definitely see another couple widespread freezes as we go through March.”

Some Shreveport residents describe this type of weather in February as unusual.

“You know, you see me in this jacket because I was thinking it was going to be cold,” Quan Flees said Wednesday, when the high temperature was 77°. “But, you know, it’s unusual and so I like it. I really can’t complain about it.”

Shreveporter Richard Thomas said: “Why is the weather so hot in February? The weather get off and on; it gets hot sometimes and it gets cold sometimes. I don’t know why.”

Below is a look at climatological data for Shreveport from Jan. 1 through Feb. 21. Shown are the maximum and minimum temperatures and the departure from normal for each date, among other data:

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