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San Juan, PR

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February 2013 Climate Report for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

February 2013 Highlights

New Records for February 2013

San Juan

Date	New Record	Previous Record
February 8th	A 24hr rainfall record of 1.01" set at the Luis Muñoz Marin Intl Airport.	This broke the old record of 0.62" set back in 2009.

Saint Croix   

Date	New Record	Previous Record
February 4th	A record low temperature of 65°F.	This broke the old record of 67°F set back in 2005, 1992, 1954 and 1952.
February 2013	February 2013 ended as the sixth driest February on record with 0.61" accumulated.	February 2005 continued to be the driest February on record with 0.11" accumulated.

February 2013 Statistics

 Average February Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	83.7°F	85.1°F	84.0°F
Low	72.0°F	72.5°F	72.3°F
Avg. T	77.9°F	78.8°F	78.2°F
Pcpn.	2.39’’	1.43’’	1.65’’

  February 2013 Observations:

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	84.4°F(+0.7°F)	83.9°F(-1.2°F)	84.2°F(+0.2°F)
Low	72.0°F(0.0°F)	72.5°F(0.0°F)	70.5°F(-1.8°F)
Avg. T	78.2°F(+0.3°F)	78.2°F(-0.6°F)	77.4°F(-0.8°F)
Pcpn.	2.32" (-0.07")	*	0.61'' (-1.04'')

* Suspicious Rainfall Observations Reported

 February 2013 Extremes:

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	86°F February 23rd and 18th	86°F February 19th	90°F February 27th
Low	69°F February 4th	69°F February 4th	65°F February 4th and 2nd

Monthly Summary 

    A mid to upper level ridge prevailed across the entire region during the month of February. This promoted a fair and stable weather pattern over the local islands with mostly clear to partly cloudy skies and a few isolated showers.  In fact, the limited low level moisture and stable conditions helped to suppress significant shower activity across the forecast area, resulting in below normal precipitation across Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands.  

Rainfall Accumulations Year to Date (YTD)    

Figure A – Graphical Display of precipitation for February 2013 across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data.

Figure B – Graphical Display of YTD precipitation across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data.

Figure C – Graphical display of departure from normal precipitation YTD.

February Historical Statistics              

Highest February Temperatures on record:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
96°F February 27th, 1983	93°F February 24th, 1996	93°F February 10th, 2005
93°F February 25th, 2010	93°F February 9th, 1993	91°F February 21st, 1973
93°F February 11th, 1992	93°F February 1st, 1993	91°F February 11th, 1973

Lowest  February Temperatures on record: 

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
62°F February 7th, 1968	64°F February 27th, 1972	61°F February 5th, 1979
62°F February 6th, 1968	64°F February 26th, 1972	62°F February 24th, 1981
62°F February 5th, 1968	65°F February 6th, 1990	63°F February 23rd, 1981

Wettest Februarys:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
7.90" 1950	3.96" 1954	4.23" 1995
7.84" 1918	3.79" 1956	3.59" 1988
7.34" 1954	3.31" 1983	3.54" 1956

Driest Februarys:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
0.05" 1941	0.42" 1987	0.11" 2005
0.09" 1902	0.47" 1993	0.18" 1983
0.20" 1983	0.52" 2010	0.30" 1986

Decadal February Observations for San Juan, Puerto Rico

	2010-2013	2000’s	1990’s	1980’s	1970’s	1960’s
High	83.4°F	83.0°F	84.1°F	84.3°F	83.6°F	83.1°F
Low	71.5°F	71.1°F	70.9°F	71.0°F	71.7°F	68.9°F
Avg. T	77.5°F	77.1°F	77.5°F	77.6°F	77.7°F	76.0°F
Pcpn.	1.90"	1.91’’	2.57’’	2.75’’	1.60’’	2.13’’

Looking ahead toward the month of March

Average March Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

 

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	84.9°F	85.9°F	84.6°F
Low	72.9°F	72.8°F	72.5°F
Avg. T	78.9°F	79.4°F	78.2°F
Pcpn.	1.95’’	1.42’’	1.56’’

Precipitation Outlook for March-April-May (click here for details)

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion

ENSO-neutral is favored into the northern hemisphere summer 2013. (click here for details)

Moon/Sun/Tide Data for the month of March 2013   

Sunrise/sunset data, phase of the moon, as well as tide data can all be found by going to the climate portion of the National Weather Service San Juan Climate homepage and then clicking on the astronomical tab.