The season of winter is defined primarily in 2 ways.

#1:There is Meteorological winter which is considered the months of December, January and February.

#2: There is astronomical winter which is defined as the period between the winter solstice which is approximately around Dec 20-21 every year and the spring or vernal equinox on March 20-21, this is “official” winter.

If we just look at the meteorological winter of Dec-Feb in Charlotte we will easily have had the coldest winter since 1968-69.

To recap those three months using the average temperature for the month, which is calculated by taking the average high and low for the month and dividing by 2.

 

 

Dec 2009 Avg. Temp: 39.9° –4.5° below normal

Jan 2010 Avg. Temp: 37.6° –4.1° below normal

Feb 2010 Avg. Temp: 38.4° –6.4° below normal

 

This marks the first time since the winter of 1968-69 or 41 years ago that the average temperature for those three months has been below 40°. Think about that for a moment the average temperature in Charlotte, NC has been below 40° for three straight months or approximately 90 days! This also means that there has been almost 2 generations of people who have never seen a winter this cold in Charlotte, NC. If you use the common 25.2 years in the U.S. as a measure of a generation.

There is still 3 days left in February but with my forecast of 40° today, 45° tomorrow and barely 50° this weekend will will stay below 40° for the entire month easily.

If you really like looking at monthly average temperatures here is the complete history of Charlotte, NC month by month from the National Weather service in Greenville-Spartanburg. Click here to see the complete data set.

Spring can’t get here soon enough!