West Texans in and around the Midland area expect to see 60° as a high in early February. Instead, they shoveled snow Tuesday. The latest winter storm, which will spread snow as far north as Oklahoma and southern Missouri, deposited 7” at Lamesa and 6” at Ft. Davis in the Lone Star State. That wintry weather contrasted dramatically with the record warmth which took hold in California. The 73° high Tuesday in San Francisco, eclipsed that city’s old record of 71° in 1995 and was 14° above normal. Nearby Santa Rosa was even warmer—registering 78°, the warmest reading anywhere in the country.
While hardly as dramatic, mild weather also made its way into the upper Midwest where International Falls, Minnesota broke out of a deep freeze which has gripped that area for nearly two months. Tuesday’s 37° high was the warmest there since Dec. 4.
-Tom Skilling
