5 Oddities From the Warm Side of Winter Storm Petros

Quincy Vagell
Published: February 26,2016

While Winter Storm Petros blanketed parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes with heavy snow, there was another side to this February storm. The ingredients came together to the south and east of the storm's track to produce tornadoes, damaging winds and record warmth.
(RECAP: Destructive Tornado Outbreak: Feb, 23-24)
It is not completely unusual for late winter storms to produce severe weather, but there were several record-breaking and unique feats accomplished by Petros this past week.
Here’s a look at five oddities and records from the warm side of Winter Storm Petros.

1. First Deadly February Tornadoes on Record in Virginia

A pair of deadly tornadoes ripped through Virginia on Wednesday. Three lives were lost in a mobile home in Waverly after an EF1 tornado tore through the community. A man was also found dead in Appomattox County after a destructive tornado hit the area.

Laundromat manager Brad Poindexter, of Danville, Va., walks over bricks at his damaged business after a deadly storm that swept through Waverly, Va., Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.
(AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Prior to this year, there had never been a February deadly tornado in the state, according to NOAA's storm event database. The last killer tornado to impact Virginia was on April 27, 2011, when multiple tornadoes resulted in six deaths statewide.

2. First February Strong Tornado in Pennsylvania on Record

The tornado outbreak extended as far north as Pennsylvania, where a pair of rare February tornadoes were reported. The initial tornado was rated EF2 in Lancaster County, with winds up to 125 mph, marking the first instance of a strong (F2/EF2 or higher) tornado occurring in February in Pennsylvania.

People clean up in the aftermath of a storm Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, in Gap, Pa. Crews in central and eastern Pennsylvania are working to restore electricity after strong storms moved across the state and possibly caused some tornadoes.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Tornadoes in February are very rare in the state. In fact, prior to 2016, only one tornado had been reported in Pennsylvania since 1950. The second tornado on Wednesday was even farther north than the initial twister, impacting Bradford County in the northeastern part of the state.

3. Rare February Severe Watches, Warnings in New England

Ahead of the severe weather outbreak, severe thunderstorm watches were issued by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) as far north as Massachusetts and southern Vermont late Wednesday and early Thursday. The last time such a watch had been issued in February in the area was back in 1997.

A severe thunderstorm watch was issued by the Storm Prediction Center late Wednesday night over parts of New England.

Even more uncommon were the severe thunderstorm warnings issued by the National Weather Service in Maine early Thursday morning.
To put the severe threat into perspective, the SPC issued a category 2 (slight) risk for parts of New England for Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The first slight risk for the region in 2015 was not issued until May 27.

4. Hurricane Force Winds Slam Parts of New England

The watches and warnings gave plenty of notice for the severe, damaging winds that tore through the region. Winds gusted as high as 83 mph at Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts.

Strong winds bring down trees and power lines in Newington, Connecticut.
(Jay Dobensky / @StormTrooperJay Twitter)

Other wind gusts to hurricane-force in New England included 76 mph at Bristol, Rhode Island and 75 mph at South Glastonbury, Connecticut.
The winds were strong enough to result in over 100 reports of wind damage from Connecticut to Maine. Tens of thousands of area residents lost power due to the number of downed trees and power lines from the storm.

5. Record Warmth and Moisture Too

Two key ingredients fueling the outbreak of severe weather were warm air and plentiful moisture, which created an unstable environment up much of the East Coast. It took record-breaking parameters for February to support such a significant event in the region.

A look at the severe weather setup that developed Wednesday night, allowing warm, moist air to surge up the East Coast.

Temperatures surged into the 50s all the way up to Maine early Thursday. A daily record high of 53 degrees was set at Portland shortly before 6 a.m., around the time that an average low temperature of 19 degrees would typically be expected.
In terms of moisture, a weather balloon launched from Caribou, Maine Thursday morning sampled the highest amount of precipitable water (a measure of moisture in the atmosphere) ever observed at the location in February.
MORE: Winter Storm Petros Photos