State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says the shortest month of this year ended up being one of the snowiest so far this decade. He says we average one-point-21 inches of precipitation in February, most of it fell in the form of snow, making it the snowiest month since December of 2000. He says we averaged just over one foot of snow for the month in the state. Hillaker says February continued a string of wet months.He says we’ve actually had four consecutive months where the statewide average for precipitation has been above normal — the first such streak in three years. He says unfortunately a lot of the recent precipitation has fallen on frozen ground, minimizing its impact on subsoil moisture levels. Hillaker says the wet months have helped though, with the southeast two-thirds of the state looking the best for subsoil moisture.He says the driest areas are in northcentral and northwest Iowa, and also the far western area of the state. February was slightly colder. He says it averaged about one degree colder than a typical February. The winter overall has been close to average.He says December was about six degrees warmer than normal, January was just about normal, and now February just a degree above normal. February did have an extra day this time around, which Hillaker says usually doesn’t make much difference.Although he says this time around it may’ve raised up the temperature average a little bit, because it was the warmest day of the month.