February hits the books as 'warm and wet'; March continues temperature trend

Warm and wet is the story for February, and if you haven't driven on one of the county gravel roads (I use that term loosely) then you really are not seeing or feeling the impact of this month's weather. 
As someone who drives my kids to a rural day care provider 3 days per week, I can attest to the fact that my 4-wheel-drive pickup has come in handy — not for the snow, but for the mud.
The warm, wet weather has really wreaked havoc on the gravel roads, turning them into black, slippery and sticky areas — a true mud-bogger's delight. 
They aren't the only happy ones ... owners of car washes have to be happy as well, as it seems I'm giving my vehicle baths more frequently than I do my own kids!
February temperatures soared with overnight lows nearly on par with March average lows and daytime high temperatures a couple of degrees warmer than normal. 
Overall, February temperatures were over 5 degrees above normal. 
There was a 67-degree span between the monthly high and monthly low temperatures across only a two-week period.
The high hit 59 on the 27th while the low was minus 6 two weeks earlier on the 13th.
The other half of this story was the snowy, wet weather for February.  
Seventeen inches of snow fell for the month, blowing past our average of 44 inches for the year with two potentially snowy months to go.  For the season we have had over 51 inches of snow.
This has also translated into a wet month as far as precipitation is concerned. A total of 1.24 inches of water has fallen primarily from the snow.  This is more than double the normal amount for February.
Already, as we look toward March, temperatures have warmed nicely into the 40s, 50s, and 60s for the first week of March.  Look for a continued warm-up as we head into spring which, coincidentally, officially occurs on Sunday, March 20.
 
A blog of daily summary and other interesting weather events for the Luverne area is at http://luvernemnweather.blogspot.com. Thone can be reached at tathone@gmail.com.