February was Waterloo Region’s 2nd-warmest in recorded history

While many people may have realized that it was warm in Waterloo Region last month, it was actually the second-warmest February in over 100 years.

The overall temperature was five degrees above average, which puts February 2024 just behind 2017 as the warmest on record, according to Frank Seglenieks, the University of Waterloo Weather Station co-ordinator.

In his monthly update, he noted that weather records have been kept in Waterloo Region since 1914.

While it was unusually warm in the area in February, it was also unusually dry, as there was only about 21.6 millimetres of precipitation, which is about a third of the normal average, according to Seglenieks.

“This was the driest February since 1987,” he noted.

He said the region only saw 13 centimetres of snow, which is also well below the average of 30.3 cm.

So far this winter, the area has seen 59.5 cm of snow, which is less than half of what it would normally experience.

“As well, the gloominess index of 5.9 (on a scale of 10) was just a bit less than the average of 5.7 and much less than the value of 8.3 from last month,” Seglenieks wrote.