The brutal cold of early February cancelled out unusually warm temperatures late in the month, making the temperatures close to normal in the Northeast, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell.

"As was the case in January, these temperature extremes cancelled each other out, producing a monthly average temperature that was just 0.4 degrees warmer than normal," said Keith Eggleston, regional climatologist at the center. Late in the month, temperatures rose into the 70-degree range across much of West Virginia, and southern portions of Maryland and Delaware. Washington National Airport reported a high temperature of 72 degrees on Feb. 25 -- the warmest temperature since Nov. 3, 1995.

Vermont reported the largest monthly departure at 2 degrees warmer than normal, while Delaware and New Hampshire were the only states with slightly below normal temperatures with -0.1 degree departures each.

Precipitation was below normal across most of the region during February. The region's three northernmost states were the only ones to report a precipitation excess for the month: New Hampshire reported 113 percent of normal, Maine 109 percent, and Vermont 106 percent of the long-term February mean.

At the other end of the scale, Delaware at 60 percent of normal, and Rhode Island at 59 percent of normal, were the driest states. Overall, the 12-state region reported 88 percent of the normal February precipitation amount, making this the 35th driest February in the last 102 years.

Snowfall was above normal across extreme southern and coastal portions of the Northeast during February. New York City reported 21.2 inches of snow during the month, at 12.8 inches above normal. This was more than what was reported by the normally snowier upstate New York cities of Syracuse (16.5 inches), Buffalo (11.8 inches) and Rochester (14.1 inches). Most of the snow came from two major storms -- on Feb. 2-3 and on Feb. 16-17.

Seasonal snowfall accumulations so far since October were above normal nearly everywhere except the normally snowy Caribou, Maine, which trailed their normal accumulation by 10 inches. New York City, with 61.7 inches by the end of the month, had recorded more than three times its seasonal normal.

By the end of February, the following locations had set new seasonal snowfall records: Hartford, Conn., Charleston, W.Va., Providence, R.I., Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington Dulles Airport, Washington National Airport, and Wilmington, Del. ( By March 2, New York City's Central Park and JFK Airport joined this group. On March 8, Boston and Elkins, W. Va., also established new seasonal snowfall records.)

New Weather Records

Seasonal Snowfall Records (inches)

City New Previous Philadelphia 55.9 55.4 in 1898-99 Baltimore 54.9 51.8 in 1963-64 Hartford, Conn 90.2 84.9 in 1993-94 Providence, R.I. 78.0 75.6 in 1947-48 Charleston, W.Va. 84.8 76.6 in 1977-78 Washington-Dulles AP 53.4 44.6 in 1963-64 Washington-National AP 40.8 40.4 in 1957-58 High Temperature Records

City Date New Previous Huntington, W.Va. 23rd 76 73 in 1975 Baltimore (AP) (tie) 25th 73 73 in 1976 JFK Airport, N.Y. 25th 65 64 in 1985 Atlantic City, N.J. (AP) 26th 64 63 in 1957 JFK Airport, N.Y. 26th 60 57 in 1957 Huntington, W.Va. 27th 77 74 in 1954 Beckley, W.Va. 27th 70 63 in 1981 Portland, Maine 28th 56 50 in 1954 Low Temperature Records

City Date New Previous Elkins, W.Va. 4th -18 -12 in 1978 Huntington, W.Va. 4th -9 -6 in 1970 Baltimore (AP) 4th 8 9 in 1965 Philadelphia 4th 8 9 in 1965 Wilmington, Del. 4th 4 7 in 1965 Atlantic City, N.J. (AP) 4th -3 2 in 1981 Newark, N.J. (tie) 4th 7 7 in 1985 JFK Airport,N.Y. (tie) 4th 9 9 in 1955 Binghamton, N.Y. 4th -4 -2 in 1981 Elkins, W.Va. 5th -22 -10 in 1917 Beckley, W.Va. 5th -16 -1 in 1981 Baltimore (AP) 5th -1 7 in 1955 Allentown, Pa. 5th 0 1 in 1947 Atlantic City, N.J. (AP) 5th -8 2 in 1965 Newark, N.J. 5th 3 5 in 1981 JFK Airport, N.Y. 5th 7 8 in 1995 Hartford, Conn. 5th -13 -11 in 1918 Bridgeport, Conn. 5th 2 4 in 1965 Allentown, Pa. 6th -8 4 in 1995 Atlantic City, N.J. (AP) 6th -3 0 in 1966 Atlantic City, N.J. (AP) 7th 2 4 in 1993 Atlantic City, N.J. (AP) 19th 8 10 in 1993 Hartford, Conn. (tie) 19th 1 1 in 1936 AP=Airport