While some might depend on Punxsutawney Phil for their winter outlook, the National Weather Service states chances are fairly even for above or below normal precipitation and temperatures in Iowa this February.

The National Weather Service Quad Cities Office released a January climate review stating that temperatures were 5 to 6.5 degrees below normal while precipitation was about one-half to one inch below normal. The February temperature outlook released Monday shows most of Iowa seeing an equal chance for above or below normal temperatures, while part of east and southeast Iowa shows chances for above normal precipitation. Quad Cities Office Science and Operations Officer Ray Wolf predicts how this winter’s temperatures could average overall, “Right now for February, although it looks like maybe a fairly chilly start we don’t see any strong signal one way or another to February being unusually cold or unusually warm. So if that outlook comes to fruition we could very well end up with temperatures for winter averaging near normal even though during winter we had an unusually warm December and an unusually cold January.”

Climate review for December states that temperatures were 6 to 8 degrees above normal, while snowfall totals were about 5 to 6 inches below normal, and precipitation was about normal to one-and-a-quarter inch below normal. The seasonal outlook which projects through April shows eastern Iowa seeing above normal precipitation with about all of the state under equal chances for above or below normal temperatures.