Eastern Cornbelt:
More snow and cold temperatures hammered the Eastern Cornbelt region during the week, prompting numerous winter storm warnings and travel advisories.
Parts of northern Illinois were blanketed with another 8-12 inches of snow on Feb. 15-16, which followed earlier storms on Feb. 11-14. Wind chills dropped to as low as -25 in northern areas of the state early on Feb. 15, but temperatures gradually warmed to the 20s by midweek.
Central Indiana was hit with more than a foot of snow on Feb. 15-16, and heavy snows were also reported across central and southwestern Ohio. The heavy snow was accompanied by subzero wind chills and winds up to 25 mph, causing road closures due to drifting snow in some locations.
Western Cornbelt:
Bitterly cold temperatures across the Western Cornbelt at mid-month strained the region’s power grid and natural gas supplies, with reports of rolling blackouts occurring across portions of northern Iowa early in the week.
At least four Iowa cities set records for their lowest temperatures on Valentine’s Day, with highs staying below zero all day in Des Moines and Waterloo. Temperatures across the state dropped to the negative 20s on Feb. 14-16, with the lowest readings reported at -33 in Le Mars and Denison early on Feb. 16.
Wind chill warnings were in effect for much of Missouri on Feb. 15-16, with lows dropping to -25 in parts of the Ozarks region. Wind chills ranged from -15 to -30 in southeastern Nebraska early in the week, with subzero lows still common across the state on the morning of Feb. 17. Warmer weather was on tap for the balance of the week, however, with highs expected to reach the upper-20s to mid-30s across Nebraska by the weekend.
Southern Plains:
Heavy snowfall and record-setting cold weather hammered much of the Southern Plains region in mid-February, resulting in widespread power outages across Texas. Sources also reported significant damage to wheat, winter vegetables, fruit crops, and newly emerged corn in parts of Texas, with one source describing this as a 70-year weather event.
Wichita, Kan., posted its coldest Valentine’s Day and President’s Day on record, with temperatures falling to the negative teens on both days. The bitter cold was accompanied by up to three inches of snow in Wichita, with higher amounts near the Oklahoma border.
Oklahoma City, Okla., was blanketed with 4-7 inches of snow during the week, with 6-10 inches reported in southern Oklahoma. Record cold temperatures were posted throughout the state over the holiday weekend, with highs staying in the single digits in Oklahoma City on Feb. 16. Forecasts called for a return to above-freezing temperatures by the coming weekend.
Temperatures in the teens and single digits were common across northern Texas during the week, with highs not expected to reach above freezing until late on Feb. 19 before reaching the 40s and 50s by the weekend. Snowfall across northern and central Texas ranged from 1-3 inches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to 5-7 inches along the Red River. As of midweek, Dallas had received five inches of snow during February.
“Weather is certainly the story here in central Texas,” said one industry contact at midweek. “It never snows here, and it snowed twice in the past 30 days. It was 4 degrees this morning and won’t reach 32 until sometime Friday. We have no idea how to drive in this, so pretty much the whole region is shut down until Thursday or Friday.”
Much of New Mexico also experienced frigid temperatures during the week, with snowfall ranging from 1-2 inches in Albuquerque up to 6-12 inches in the mountains. Midweek storms also brought heavy snows to Colorado, including 4.8 inches in Fort Collins and 10.5 inches in Boulder.
South Central:
The South Central region experienced cold temperatures, snow, and ice in mid-February, which caused road closures and widespread power outages.
Central Arkansas was hit with another 5-10 inches of snow during the week, with Little Rock already posting its snowiest February on record with nearly half of the month still to go. The latest storm left thousands of Arkansas residents without power on Feb. 16, with most of the outages reported in Lonoke, Montgomery, Pike, and Sevier counties.
Winter weather also hammered Tennessee and Kentucky during the week, with reports of 3-6 inches of snow falling in the Louisville, Ky., area on Feb. 14-15.
Freezing temperatures were reported across Louisiana and Mississippi as well. Parts of Mississippi were coated with a quarter to a half-inch of ice during the week, while midweek forecasts warned that northern and central areas of Louisiana were unlikely to see temperatures above freezing for the balance of the week.
Southeast:
While southern Florida baked in 80-degree heat during the week, parts of Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, and Virginia were bracing for another round of freezing rain and ice.
Winter weather alerts and states of emergency were issued for Virginia and Eastern North Carolina on Feb. 17 as the region prepared for another blast of ice and frigid temperatures on Feb. 18-19. An earlier storm over the Valentine’s Day weekend caused widespread power outages across both states.
A mixture of snow, sleet, and freezing rain was also moving through Alabama on Feb. 17-18, with forecasts warning of 1-2 inches of snow and less than a tenth of an inch of ice for some parts of the state. A flash flood watch was issued for northern and central Georgia at midweek, with 1-2 inches of rain expected to fall on already saturated soil.
The inclement weather has delayed fertilizer application and fieldwork across northern areas of the Southeast. “It’s very cold today,” said one Georgia contact at midweek. “We’ve had so much rain we need it to dry up right now. We have some aerial application going on wheat because of the rain. The soil is saturated.”
Much of central and southern Florida, meanwhile, enjoyed temperatures in the 80s as the week progressed, with showers and storms likely to increase by the weekend. “Just about every crop that we sell fertilizer to in Florida is being fertilized right now,” commented one Florida source. “With all these raw materials going up, people are filling up their warehouses.”