February Severe Weather

 

February 25, 2017

Severe weather is more common in the United States during the month of February compared to December and January.  Severe weather is defined as a thunderstorm that contains any of the following: hail 1”/+ in diameter; wind gusts of 58/+ mph; or a tornado.  Severe thunderstorms can sometimes contain more than one of these criteria. 

When severe weather does occur in February, it can most often be found on or near the Gulf Coast.  That’s because weather conditions are often more favorable for it there than other parts of the country.  Nevertheless, some February outbreaks have occurred in other parts of the United States that made them unusual.

2020:  A rare severe weather outbreak occurred on February 7 in the Mid-Atlantic Region.  The National Weather Service confirmed that five tornadoes touched down between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. in the DC Metro Area.  Maryland, Virginia and DC don’t typically see any tornadoes during the month of February.  

An EF0 occurred in Loudoun County, Virginia, in the town of Leesburg and had winds of 85 mph.  It was on the ground for three minutes and had a track of 3.3 miles.  According to National Weather Service records, this tornado broke the record of April 16 (1993, 2011) for earliest Loudoun County tornado by more than two months.

There also was an EF1 in Montgomery County, Maryland, near the town of Dickerson that had wind speeds of 95 mph and a track of a mile.  Another tornado near Boyds ranked as an EF0 with wind speeds of up to 80 mph and had a track of 2.3 miles.  Two more EF1 tornadoes occurred: one each in Frederick and Carroll counties.

2016:  An even larger severe weather outbreak occurred on February 24.  More than 30 tornadoes touched down between Pennsylvania and Florida.  There were three confirmed fatalities due to an EF1 tornado in Sussex County, Virginia.  A powerful EF2 tornado with 125 mph winds also occurred in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  That followed the nearly 70 tornadoes that developed on February 23 along the U.S. Gulf Coast and caused a total of six fatalities.

2008:  A severe weather outbreak from February 4 – 6 was unusual for several reasons.  The three-day total included over 600 reported cases of severe weather, with more than 130 confirmed tornadoes.  The most active of the three-day period was February 5 when over 500 cases of severe weather were reported from Texas to West Virginia.  A severe weather outbreak that covers that much geography is more common in April or May.  What made this severe weather outbreak especially tragic was that 28 people lost their lives.

1998:  Another significant severe weather outbreak occurred in central Florida on February 22 – 23.  NOAA reported that the 42 lives lost in this tornado outbreak made it Florida’s deadliest.  Tragically, most of the tornadoes developed overnight when people were asleep.  This underscores the need to get weather alerts on your phone or to have a NOAA weather radio which provides the latest weather watches and warnings for your area 24/7.