The winter season came in like a lamb with mild temperatures and next to no snow in December. As a whole, the month of December did see around a 1.50 inch surplus of liquid ei canquivalent (rain plus melted snow).
The lion arrived in January. What started off as another warm month, January turned out to be the most brutal when it came to the cold. A collapse of the polar vortex brought arctic temperatures in the Miami Valley not once, but twice.
>> Dangerous cold prompts opening of warming centers throughout region
On Jan. 21, low temperatures plummeted to minus 5 degrees. The end of the month saw a more extended bout of bitter cold temperatures when wind chills dropped anywhere from minus 30 to minus 40 around the Miami Valley.
>> Local hospitals see frostbite cases as Polar Vortex hits Miami Valley
>> Photos: Bitter cold weather hits Miami Valley
It wasn't just the cold temperatures that made January the toughest winter month. From several snow storms, we saw 14.4 inches of snow in Dayton. That's about 6 inches above the average snowfall amount since 1950.
>> PHOTOS: Snowstorm covers region Saturday
The snow continued into February as Dayton received an additional 9.4 inches of snow, which was once again above the average by around 3 inches.
>> VIDEO: Dangerous snow squall moves through Miami County
What highlighted February was the endless supply of precipitation. By far the wettest month, February accumulated 6.15 inches of liquid equivalent. This turned out to be a whopping 3.91 inches above the average! The significant excess of precipitation lead to flash flooding and flood warnings around a majority of the region. As far as temperatures go, February was actually around 4 degrees above the average.
Now into March we've experienced very little snow, but have received a normal amount of rain. As far as temperatures go, March has consistently remained below the average.