NORFOLK – There are 24 days to go until it is officially spring, but above average temperatures have put Virginia on the fast-track to early beach days.
As of Friday morning, Virginia is on course to have the second warmest February on record, surpassing an average temperature of 50.5 degrees – a reading that combines both daily low and high temperatures.
The warmest February on record is still held by 1890, more than 115 years ago, when the average temperature that toasty February was 52.4 degrees.
Friday’s high was initially a warm 75 degrees. But by 11:30 a.m., Norfolk International Airport was already reading a temperature of 74, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Alec Butner, who now says the region will probably see readings in the upper 70s today and as high as 80 on Saturday.
“Highs in the 70s aren’t horribly rare in February, but usually, we would see one or two and then they would be pushed out by a cold front,” Butner said on Friday. “But this month, we’ve already had seven days that reached 70 or higher.”
Virginia even tied for the warmest February day ever this year on Sunday, Feb. 12, with a high of 82, tying with days in 2012, 1997 and 1890.
“It’s definitely been much warmer this year than your typical February,” Buckner said.
A lack of northern Arctic blasts reaching the East Coast are responsible for the unseasonably warm month, Buckner said, and the for at least the next week, Virginia won’t see any temperatures near freezing.
Besides the early trips to local beaches, it’s even starting to looking like spring outside.
“It is still winter time,” Buckner said, “but a lot of the trees and flowers are already out.”
