February 2026 General Discussion

[fluoronium]

It's pretty surprising how a couple weeks ago this month was looking to be cold, and now we're in full blown torch mode. February sure has been one of extremes in recent years. Either it's our snowiest month, or we cook. 

The system on Thursday has my attention. If this trends well it may be my first chase of the year. 

[michsnowfreak]

With the snowmelt indices hazy sir yesterday saw a very orange sunset. 

[outflow]

Never seen air quality alerts for melting snow before, this a new thing?

[sbnwx85]

48 currently feels like 58. Rare to get this warmth with full sun this time of year. Drinking it up. Got a nice walk in this morning before work.

[michsnowfreak]

2 hours ago, outflow said:

Never seen air quality alerts for melting snow before, this a new thing?

They issued because snow thats been on the ground all winter traps pollutants like road salt/exhaust/etc and its melting without aid of any wind and instead a temperature inversion, so those pollutants are hanging in the air instead of mixed out from the wind.

[Chicago Storm]

Blowing out the record high for today at ORD, which was a low hanging one at 58° (The only sub-60° record high beyond Feb 10th).

[Brian D]

With the incoming stm, the forecast for stiff E/ENE winds is going to blow a large mass of ice right into the W shore of the Lake. By Thurs into Friday, that will probably open up the waters where the ice currently sits. If that happens, with an ENE/NE wind, a long fetch of marine air over the ice, with lower pressures, could produce some good LES. Models are all over the place for that scenario, tho. Will be interesting to watch. I've seen 1-2' of LES hit under the right scenario. Last time was over DLH in 2022 I believe. More specifically over Park Point into the SW burbs of DLH below the hill.

[Brian D]

34 minutes ago, Brian D said:

With the incoming stm, the forecast for stiff E/ENE winds is going to blow a large mass of ice right into the W shore of the Lake. By Thurs into Friday, that will probably open up the waters where the ice currently sits. If that happens, with an ENE/NE wind, a long fetch of marine air over the ice, with lower pressures, could produce some good LES. Models are all over the place for that scenario, tho. Will be interesting to watch. 

What is hard to see, is the clear, thin ice nearer the W shore. All that ice will break up, and pile. The ice you see is older, med thick ice that will plow into the W areas.

Here's todays ice maps using the thickness colors, with egg codes. BTW, that ice in S L Michigan shouldn't be around much longer under warm conditions, with only 20% along the SW shore. May take a little longer with the other ice along the S/SE areas at 90%, and a little thicker. 

[hawkeye_wx]

We have hit 70º in Cedar Rapids.   

[A-L-E-K]

Torching hard, very nice 

[cyclone77]

First 70 of the year at MLI, and a new record high.

[Chicago Storm]

ORD had a high temp of 65° on today, which broke the record high max temp for the date of 58° (1921).

[DocATL]

I dunno…that Feb total of 0.9” for ORD looks pretty safe to me

[cyclone77]

Fire season has arrived.

 

[sbnwx85]

South Bend missed its daily record high of 60 by one degree on Monday. 59’d.

[Brian D]

Blizzard warning for the N Shore. BOOM! Hope this pans. Winds already up to 25 this morning under fairly clear skies (some cirrus).

[michsnowfreak]

Snowdepth down to a T. Have had 62 days this season with 1"+ snowcover including 22 days with 6"+. Avg snowcover days for an entire season is 49.

The snowmelt induced haze looked very eerie this morning.

[Brian D]

Weekly ice updated today. Also added accumulated ice for the season so far.

[Brian D]

Winds up to 35+ now. Will be a while before any precip makes it over the Lake. A band is forming across N WI atm, so we shall see how things fair. Colder, drier air will have to be overcome which is typical with this set up. 

[A-L-E-K]

Fire weather watch, what a drag