February 2026 Weather Recap: Late-Month Blizzard Upstages Frigid Start

 

                                                                            Photo credit: New York Daily News 

Following a January that ended with eight very cold days (average high/low of 22°/12°), frigid readings continued through the first nine days of February, which were 12 degrees colder than average (30°/15°).

 

  

After this deep-freeze, the rest of February had average temperatures. Overall, the month was 4.4 degrees colder than average and was the third coldest February of the 21^st century (behind 2003 and 2015).  This followed a cold December and January, which were 5.3 and 3.3 degrees below average, respectively.  

February had just one day with a reading in the 50s, which occurred on the last day of the month when the high reached 54°. (On average, the mildest reading in February is in the low 60s.)

Despite the cold first nine days just 0.1” of snow fell (but much of the snow from 1/25’s snowstorm of 11.4" was still on the ground). But this dearth of snow was more than made up for by a blizzard on Feb. 22 and 23 that buried Central Park under 19.7” of snow. This was the City’s ninth biggest snowfall on record and the fourth biggest February snowstorm. (And the amounts that fell on 2/22 and 2/23, 8.8” and 10.9”, respectively, were records for the dates.)   

The storm qualified as a blizzard because of winds that gusted between 30 and 45 mph, reducing visibility below 1/4 mile for 12 hours. And while New York's accumulation was impressive, many suburbs saw accumulations between 24 and 30 inches (including Newark Airport, which picked up 27.2”.)  

The coldest reading of the winter, 3°, was reported on 2/8, which happened to be Super Bowl Sunday. This was the coldest temperature in New York since a low of 2° during January of 2019, and it was the coldest reading of any Super Bowl Sunday. Temperatures that weekend were made even colder by high winds (Central Park had a peak gust of 49 mph) that produced wind chills between -10° and -15°.

Finally, February’s 2.60” of precipitation was identical to last February’s; however, there was a significant difference in snowfall as this February had 22.3” while last February reported 7.1”.  This was the fourth instance in which the same month in consecutive years had the same amount of precipitation:

• February 2026 & 2025 each had 2.60"

• December 1961 & 1960 each had 3.04"

• December 1917 & 1916 each had 4.25"

• July 1883 & 1882 each had 3.21"   

 

(January 2026’s precipitation was also very close to February’s, as 2.70” was measured).