Expect another warmer than usual Tri-City month

Expect another warmer than usual month in the Tri-Cities, says the National Weather Service.

Last month the temperature averaged high enough at Hanford to make it the sixth warmest February on record since 1945.

In the Tri-Cities, temperatures averaged 5.8 degrees above normal for the month.

For March expect highs above the usual 53 for the Tri-Cities at the start of the month and 63 by the end of the month. Lows should be warmer than the usual 32 at the start of the month and 40 at the end of the month.

In February highs in the Tri-Cities averaged 54.3 degrees, which was 6.4 degrees above normal. The highest temperature was 65 degrees on Feb. 16.

Lows averaged 35.9 degrees, which was 5.2 degrees above the normal.

The lowest was 26 on the first day of the month. It was one of 12 days with temperatures below freezing.

At Hanford the highest temperature for the month was 66 on Feb. 27 and the lowest was 24, recorded each of the first three days of the month. No daily temperature records were set.

Feb. 3 was the only day of the month that snow was recorded at the Hanford Meteorological Station. It measured 0.2 inch.

Precipitation in the Tri-Cities totaled 0.46 inch during February, which was 0.32 inch below normal. It rained enough to measure precipitation on nine days.

The February rain brought precipitation for the calendar year to 1.75 inches, which is 0.11 inch below normal. Since October, the start of the water year, the Tri-Cities has had 4.53 inches of precipitation, which is just about normal.

The weather service expects near normal precipitation in March in the Tri-Cities.

The peak wind gust in the Tri-Cities, as measured in Kennewick, in March was 45 mph on Feb. 18. At Hanford it was 43 mph on Feb. 19.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Expect another warmer than usual Tri-City month."