Since 75% of the time February has just 28 days...  I sat down and looked at how 2012 looked compared to average.  

                                 Max     Avg       Min
Max Temperature     74 °F     66 °F     50 °F
Mean Temperature   70 °F     58 °F     39 °F
Min Temperature      66 °F     51 °F     28 °F

As you can see by the above data... daytime highs were close to average....  about 66º.  Imagine if we did not have those two quick cold snaps!!!  Where February showed its warmth was in the overnight lows.  A 'typical' overnight low in February is 42º... but we averaged a whopping 51º!!!!

When it came to rainfall.  We were split over NWFL.  We were 1-4" above average over parts of Jackson, Washington, and Holmes Counties.  This was fantastic news since this is where most of our farming is done.

Still, we have a long way to go because on average NWFL is 4-12" below average over just the past 6 months!!

That shortfall is why NWFL is still under Severe to Extreme drought conditions.

The outlooks for temperature and precipitation for the the month of March calls for warmer and drier conditions unfortunately.

Some slightly good news is that with La Nina disappearing we will enter a 'neutral' ENSO phase which could at least mean close to average conditions this summer.  Fingers crossed!

Sincerely,

Chris Smith
Chief Meteorologist, WJHG
chris.smith@wjhg.com