Temperatures over the past few weeks across Louisiana have flirted with and surpassed 80 degrees in many locations. That has prompted more than a few comments of " This is February"?

If you're thinking it's been a bit warmer than usual then you are right on target with what climatologists are saying about the year's shortest month.

According to Dr. Barry Keim, Louisiana's State Climatologist, the average temperature for this February is 61 degrees. The warmest February on record had an average temperature of 61.2 degrees that was in 1932.

It’s going to be very interesting and I certainly think we’re going to be flirting with breaking the record for February and having the warmest February across the state of Louisiana with our record keeping going all the way back to 1895.

You'd have to think that the state has a pretty good chance of either tying or breaking that record for warmest temperatures when you consider the forecast for today and tomorrow. Today's high across much of the state will be very close to 80 degrees even with a forecast of rain.

Tomorrow's forecast will have temperatures exceeding 80 degrees across the southern third of the state and this could only inch the monthly average higher if it comes to fruition.

Why has it been so warm? Keim explained to the Louisiana Radio Network, 

We just haven’t really gotten that arctic air pushed down into Louisiana very frequently this entire winter season, not just February.

This has been one of the few times that I have noticed the Old Farmers Almanac totally whiffed on the long range forecast.That publication had suggested that the average temperature for February in Louisiana would be 49 degrees.

The long range outlook, at least for the first half of March, does show that temperatures are expected to be cooler than February's averages but still slightly above the norm.

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