ST. LOUIS – The high temperature of 76 Monday broke a very old record that dates back some 130 years.
Our records go back 150 years, so this was one of the oldest records we had left in the books. Now, if you go back to the beginning of those weather records and count all the days of February, there have been 1,211 February days. Out of all those days, only 42 of them experienced high temperatures of 75 degrees or higher–that’s only 3.4%
As warm as it was Monday, it has been a lot warmer in Februarys of the past—as recently as last year. In fact, the warmest February day ever was Feb. 27, 2024, when the thermometer spiked to 86.
Working down the list, you have Leap Day in 1972 at Number 2 on the list when we hit 85.
Number 3 on the list jumps out—Feb. 1 of 1911, we hit 84. That is the earliest St. Louis has ever experienced an 80-degree day. The other interesting point about that year—after we hit the earliest 80-degree temperature on record, we went on to have three major winter storms with 16.5 inches of snow later in February and March.
So while it may have been warm today, winter is not over, and 1911 is a good reminder of that!