Threat of February severe weather

 

Severe weather reports, February 15, 2025 (Source: NOAA)

 “Severe weather” is defined as a thunderstorm that contains any of the following: hail 1” in diameter or larger; wind gusts of 58 mph or greater; or a tornado. Severe weather is less common in the United States during the colder winter months than it is during the rest of the year.

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 more favorable for it there than other parts of the country. Nevertheless, some February outbreaks have occurred in other parts of the United States, making them very unusual.

2025: A severe weather outbreak earlier this month occurred in an area where severe weather is more common in February. On February 15-16, nearly 400 severe weather reports were reported to NOAA across the Deep South to parts of the Mid-Atlantic Region. The predominant type of severe weather during this outbreak were severe wind gusts with over 350 reports. The strongest wind gusts were 84 mph on February 15 at the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport and 74 mph at Canaan Heights, West Virginia on February 16.

2024:  A two-day severe weather outbreak occurred last February 27-28 across parts of the Great Lakes Region and Ohio Valley. A total of 34 tornadoes were reported as part of a larger outbreak with over 300 total severe reports. The tornadoes on February 27 were concentrated in suburban Chicago, Illinois, with several EF-0 and EF-1 tornadoes and in central Ohio where tornadoes reached EF-2 intensity. Those were followed by an EF-2 tornado in south central New York near the Pennsylvania border on February 28 and a 75 mph wind gust near the Tennessee town of Alcoa. 

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 tornadoes during the month of February.  

An EF-0 occurred in Leesburg, Virginia and had winds of 85 mph. It was on the ground for three minutes with a track of 3.3 miles. According to National Weather Service records, this tornado set a record for earliest in the year a tornado occurred in Loudoun County. There also was an EF-1 in Montgomery County, Maryland, near the town of Dickerson that had wind speeds of 95 mph and a track of a mile. Two more EF-1 tornadoes occurred: one each in Frederick and Carroll counties.

2016:  Another large 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 EF-1 tornado in Sussex County, Virginia. An EF-2 tornado with 125 mph winds also occurred in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. That followed nearly 70 tornadoes that developed on February 23 along the U.S. Gulf Coast, which caused a total of six fatalities.