Summary:
- A more typical El Niño pattern arrived in February and appears to have some legs in early March. While some extreme rain and snow amounts have been seen, we needed this moisture badly.
- February temperatures were largely warmer than average* due to most of the west experiencing elevated minimum temperatures. Areas of California, where greater cloud cover and higher precipitation amounts occurred, saw closer to average or slightly below-average temperatures for the month.
- Mountain basins saw some recovery in snow water equivalents over much of the western US. California will likely see a little more recovery in early March, while northern basins in the PNW are still relatively dry for this time of year and the drought forecast points to continued drier than average over the next couple of months.
- The first peak at the spring season forecast continues to broadly hold to a ‘typical’ El Niño pattern, drier and milder in the PNW and slightly wetter in California. All indicators are showing a continued weakening of El Niño with a La Niña watch for the fall now in place.
- All indicators are still pointing to a cool spring and slow start to the growing season, similar to last yea
