From a tornado in Massachusetts, to a blizzard warning in Hawaii, there has been some weird weather around the country this week. There are always weather extremes, but is this the new norm?
"The worst to me was just this bedroom and then the collapse of the ceiling," says tornado survivor Jeanne Thomas.
A missing wall, damaged roof and downed trees are a reminder she survived the tornado that came through her small Massachusetts town.
"The lights went off and then on and they wavered and then we heard this boom," Thomas says. "My brother-in-law Roy Kimmel was thrown into the bathroom by the wind. It was strong."
It was the first tornado in Massachusetts ever recorded in February. Usually tornados pop up in the South this time of year, but this week they also hit northern Illinois. The National Weather Service says the last time there was a tornado in this region was 1950.
The area is also seeing other weird weather. This is the first time in recorded history the Windy City had a January and February without an inch or more of snow on the ground. And while Chicago is seeing much less snow, Seattle is seeing more.
Lightning struck the space needle during a snowstorm highlighting an unusual winter where the city has seen twice the amount of snowfall as normal.
And speaking of unexpected precipitation, Petco Park in San Diego was partially flooded, after rare heavy rainfall in the city.
Researchers at the National Weather Service say as odd as this weather might seem, it's all within the nature of natural weather variability, and is part of the process and transition to spring.
If March proves to be anything like February, this will continue. More than 140 records were set for the warmest February temperature and more than 100 records were broken for warmest low temperatures for the month across the U.S.
