Ahhh March 1st...the start of Spring! Well at least to meteorologists. Meteorologists divide the seasons of the year into quarters for ease of bookkeeping. Thus the months of December-January-February comprise Winter and the months of March through May make up Spring.
February 2014 recap for Albany: February was one of the colder months that we have seen a long time. The average monthly temperature was was 21.9°, that is 4° BELOW normal. Again another below normal month (4th one in a row) for Albany. Again way below for February, but NOT a top 10 Coldest February. All 28 days had low temperatures at or below 32° and 3 days had nights at or below 0°. Eighteen days had a high temperature of 32° or lower. As for snowfall it was way above normal during this past February: 28.1" the 7th snowiest February on record for Albany; snowfall records go back to 1884. The complete (preliminary) monthly summary for Albany, NY can be found at this link Feb 2014 Monthly Summary
Winter 2013-2014 summary for Albany: The average winter temperature for the period 1 December 2013 through February 28 2014, was 23.1° or 2.5° below normal. It was a wetter than normal winter too with total precipitation of rain and the water equivalent of the melted snow totaling 9.17"; that's almost an inch and a half (1.45" to be exact) ABOVE normal. As for snowfall the 1 Dec through 28 Feb saw 63.1" of snow fall. This is above normal for this three month period by 19.4". Including November's snowfall the seasonal snowfall for Albany is 65.2". Normal snow fall for Albany is 59.1" A more detailed (preliminary) Winter 2013-2014 summary for Albany NY can be found here: Winter 2013-2014 Seasonal Summary for Albany
March Climate preview for Albany: For starters the hours of daylight increase! :-) The average high and low temperatures are 39° and 21° respectively for the first few days of the month but for the last 4 days of the month the average high is 50° or 51°! The minimums by month's end are 31°. March as we all know can be a fickle month for sure with weather extremes of cold and snow to warmth. Of Albany's top 20 snow storms 3 have occurred during this month with the first and second most snow fall ever from one storm having happened during this month. (#1 The Blizzard of 1888 and #2 The Storm of the Century or Superstorm of March (13th) 1993).
The warmest month of March on record was just 2 years ago when the average monthly temperature was 45.9 degrees, a staggering 14.9° ABOVE normal. We'll see what this March brings. As of now it looks like a colder than normal start with temperatures moderating by the end of the first week to at closer to if not AT normal.
For additional climate information not only for Albany, but for Glens Falls, Poughkeepsie, Bennington and Pittsfield is another link: Climate Data
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