A breakdown of the cold, snowy February so far in metro Detroit

(WXYZ) — Winter wasn't too bad in metro Detroit to start the year, but in February, things changed and it started feeling like Michigan winter once again.

Before Jan. 22, there were only two days with temperatures below 20°, according to 7 First Alert Meteorologist Kevin Jeanes. Since Jan. 22, there have been 25 days.

That came with arctic air that moved into metro Detroit and much of the country, bringing below-average temperatures and, at times, sub-zero wind chills to metro Detroit.

On Feb. 17, the record in several cities was shattered for cold temperatures.

The clouds cleared out before sunset on Feb. 16, which allowed any heat from the day to escape into the atmosphere overnight. The clear skies, light wind, and snow on the ground allowed temperatures to drop as low as -23° in Lapeer.

Here are the low temperatures from this morning, and record lows for Feb. 17.

Lapeer, Ann Arbor, and Port Huron broke records. Port Huron shattered its previous record by 12°!

Detroit was only 1° shy of its record from 1979, and it was the coldest since January 31, 2019 when it was -14° at DTW.

On top of that, the snow returned to the area.

So far, metro Detroit has gotten 21.8 inches of snow, which makes it the 12th snowiest February on record, with five days left. The snowiest February came in 1908 when 38.4 inches of snow fell.

On Feb. 15, just two days before the record cold, there was a record snowfall at Detroit Metro Airport for the day, with 7.2 inches of snow falling.

There are still five days left in February, but temperatures are looking above-average for the rest of the week.