Here’s where last month ranked on the list of Topeka’s warmest Februarys on record
Last month was Topeka’s second warmest February on record, the National Weather Service says.
February brought the capital city an average temperature of 45.1 degrees, 10.2 degrees above Topeka's historical average for February of 34.9, said a monthly weather summary posted Friday on the website of the weather service’s Topeka office.
Topeka’s warmest February on record came in 1930, when the average temperature was 46.7, the site said.
The capital city set a record high temperature for the date Sunday when temperatures here topped out at 82 degrees, breaking Topeka's record for March 3 of 80 degrees, set in 1910, said Chelsea Picha, meteorologist for the weather service's Topeka office.
Topeka set temperature records for the date on Feb. 1, Feb. 26
The weather service reported last month also brought Topeka’s highest average high temperature on record for February, of 60.3 degrees.
The previous record average high had been 57.5 degrees, set in February 2017.
Topeka’s average high was 57.3 in February 1930.
Topeka set record high temperatures for the date last month on Feb. 1, when the maximum mercury reading was 70 degrees, and on Feb. 26, when temperatures topped out at 83, the weather service said.
Topeka’s record high for February is 84, set Feb. 28, 1972.
What is predicted for March?
Last month brought Topeka 0.9 inches of precipitation, 0.41 less than the historical average for February of 1.31 inches, the weather service said.
Topeka saw 0.8 inches of snowfall last month, compared to an average for February of 5.2 inches, it said.
Winds of up to 53 mph accompanied a strong winter storm that swept through the area Wednesday, dropping Topeka temperatures from 75 degrees during the afternoon to 22 at midnight, the weather service said.
The capital city also saw light snow that evening, it said.
The weather service's Climate Prediction Center forecasts a 33% to 40% chance Topeka will see above-average temperatures and a 40% to 50% chance it will see above-average precipitation in March.
The weather service's short-term Topeka forecast calls for sunny skies and a high around 61 Tuesday followed by partly sunny skies and a high near 62 Wednesday, with Thursday predicted to bring a high around 65 and a likelihood of rain.
How are average temperatures determined?
The weather service has kept meteorological records for Topeka since 1887.
It determines the average temperature for a month by doing the following:
• Adding together the high and low temperature for each day, then dividing them by two to come up with the average temperature for that day.
• Adding together the average temperatures for each day, then dividing the total by the number of days in the month, which was 29 days last month.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: How did last month’s warmth compare to previous Februarys in Topeka?
