Quick Facts:
| Ave | 10Y | Low (Year) | High (Year) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HLA | 53.25 | 54.51 | 45.89 (2021) | 63.79 (2017) |
| Highs | 83.31 | 83.60 | 75°F (2010) | 91°F (2017) |
| Lows | 25.38 | 27.70 | 5°F (2021) | 38°F (2017) |
| Precip | 1.84” | 1.41” | 0.27” (2014) | 5.28” (2021) |
February HLAs
This chart shows the trend in temperature averages, 2010-22. The horizontal blue line is the 10-year average for February.
Copyright © 2022 by Wil C. Fry. Some rights reserved.
February Temperatures
February’s 10-year temperature average is 54.51°F, more than four degrees warmer than January (the coldest month). Occasionally, February is the coldest month of a year, as it was in 2010 and 2021 (Feb. 2021 registered the coldest average of any month during my 12 years of record keeping). February 2017 was the warmest February on record for Central Texas, averaging 63.79°F, easily surpassing the previous records (February 2016 and February 2012). February also shows the most variation of any month, with a nearly 18-degree difference between the warmest February and the coldest February — other winter months vary only 10 or 11 degrees, while summer months show even less variation (only five degrees for July).
According to a variety of sources I searched, the coldest temperature ever recorded in February was 5°F, on Feb. 15 and 16, 2021, while the warmest temperature February has ever seen was 94°F, on Feb. 21, 1986. (The warmest February day during my twelve years of record keeping was 91°F on Feb. 23, 2017.) As for daily temperature records, February has set 11 record highs and 11 record lows during my years of record keeping. (More than half of those record lows were during the historic ice/snow storm of 2021.)
February averages 4.75 freezing days per year — days in which the low is 32°F or cooler — second only to January’s 5.92. For a few years, it appeared February freezing days were disappearing (2016-2020 were all below average), but they made a roaring comeback in 2021, with 11 consecutive freezing days.
February Precipitation
This chart shows February’s precipitation, 2010-22.
Copyright © 2022 by Wil C. Fry. Some rights reserved.
Precipitation
Rainfall in February varies from 5.28 inches (2021) to 0.27 inches (2014), with no discernable pattern.
February averages nine days per month that exhibit precipitation, with a maximum of 17 days (2018) and a minimum of four (2016).
Trends And Patterns
February’s temperatures seemed to follow a four-year pattern, with two years cooler than average and two years warmer than average, but 2020 and 2021 broke this trend, marking four consecutive below-average years, with the last (2021) being the coldest single month since I began keeping records. Also, February tended to be above or below average temperature in the same years January was, but again 2020 and 2021 broke that trend.
February’s rainfall does not seem correlated with its temperatures, nor with the annual rainfall averages. Weirdly, with only one exception (2017), February’s rainfall correlates with September’s rainfall — when February has above-average precipitation, so will September.