February Expected to be Much Quieter Weather-Wise

BY JIM TAYLOR FarmWeekNow.com

The final month of meteorological winter is ushered in on Thursday, and February looks to be much quieter than January.

“We do return to a northwesterly flow,” said Freese-Notis Weather meteorologist Paul Otto during a Tuesday visit with RFD Radio. “But a much kinder northwesterly flow.”

And that shouldn’t bring Illinois any arctic air any time soon.

“Looking out three to four weeks, if we do go below normal, it’s only going to be for a period of 12 to 24 hours,” he said. The next chance for that is around Valentine's Day.

“We can expect a clipper-type system,” Otto said. “We’re going to see more of those quick clipper systems that come in, spend the day, and quickly move on out.”

January saw a couple of significant storm systems impacting Illinois with the western and northwestern portion of the state hit the hardest.

“We don’t see anything like that in February,” he said. “In fact, when these clipper systems come through one after the other, they’re going to be a rain, snow mix.”

He calls it a “pattern switch” with the northeastern part of the state receiving more winter type of weather than the southwest portion.

“With these clipper systems the colder air will always get the northeast corner of the state while the southwest part of the state is left in the warmer part,” Otto said.