Crazy climate

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, winter in 2016-17 was the sixth warmest in U.S. history. This is thanks in large part to an especially warm February, in which the average contiguous-U.S. temperature was 41.2 degrees, the second-highest ever recorded and 7.3 degrees higher than the country’s 20th century average.

Notable events/anomalies include:

• On Feb. 25, the first-ever February tornado touched down in western Massachusetts.

• No February snow in Chicago for the third time on record.

• Record-setting rains in Western states, including California with 184 percent of average rainfall for the season, the second-wettest winter on record.