February ended warmer than usual for most of the Southeast region, according to the University of Georgia Extension Climate and Agriculture blog. This was typical of a La Niña winter.
Other than Alabama and areas near mountains, the region was also drier than normal.
“The warm and dry conditions this year are contributing to the expansion of dry conditions and moderate drought we saw in the last U.S. Drought Monitor last week. Further expansion is likely,” said Pam Knox, University of Georgia Extension Agricultural Climatologist. “It is interesting to note that the daytime high temperatures are more above normal than the overnight lows, which reflect the very dry conditions that allow the range of daily temperature to be greater than it is in wetter conditions (like last summer).”
Dry conditions persist across North Florida and most of the central part of the state. Some moderate drought stretches northward to Taylor and Lafayette counties and as far south as Citrus and Hernando counties.
The southern portions of Alabama and Georgia are abnormally dry. The southern areas of Baldwin and Mobile counties in Alabama are also moderately dry as are a few counties in Georgia along the Atlantic coast, from Camden County northward to Chatham County.
