ARKANSAS, USA — We made it to March! That means we are less than two weeks away from daylight saving time on March 14th and a few weeks away from the Spring Equinox on March 20th.
March also signals warmer temperatures. The average high in Fayetteville warms from 55° on March 1st to 65° on March 31st. While in Fort Smith the average high climbs from 60° on March 1st to 69° on March 31st.
A lot of us will likely be looking forward to those warmer temperatures now that February is over. It was a cold and snowy February for the entire area. In fact, it will land in the record books as one of the top 10 coldest February's in both Fayetteville and Fort Smith.
The average temperatures during the month of February was 31.3° in Fayetteville. That ranks second all-time since the records started at Drake Field back in 1950. The only colder year since then was 1978 when the average monthly temperature was 28.9°.
Records in Fort Smith date back much later to 1883, but still this February lands in the top 10 coldest. An average temperatures of 35.7° puts this February as the seventh coldest all time and it was the coldest February since 1979.
Along with the cold came multiple rounds of snow and ice. Both Fayetteville and Fort Smith recorded 6 inches or more of snowfall. That is more snowfall than the 4.9 inches Fort Smith averages for the entire winter. It was the snowiest February in Fayetteville and Fort Smith since the infamous February of 2011. Both Fayetteville and Fort Smith saw more snow this February than the last five winters combined.
-Tyler
