Does warm winter mean summer will be a scorcher?

(KSLA) - The last day of February marks the end of the meteorological winter.

And this winter is one for the history books.

It will go down as the second warmest winter on record in Shreveport, with an average temperature of about 56 degrees. That's about 8 degrees above average.

But does a warm winter mean a blistering hot summer?

"You know, we would really have to do some studies to dive into that more," said Brandi Hughes, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Shreveport. "I think there is just too much big picture wise for us to say for sure that it is going to make our summer warmer."

Nor is there any evidence that a warmer winter means a cooler summer, she added.

Here's a list of the warmest winters and the following summers. The summers weren't hot or cold. They were about average.

A normal summer has an average temperature of 82 degrees.

"There is just so much going on in the atmosphere," Hughes said.

"People tend to think about weather just right there where they are. But, in reality, it's not only local. It's regional, it's continental, it's global in scale."

According to the Climate Prediction Center, above-average temperatures are favored into March and most of spring, which coincides with our severe weather season.

"We're typically more active in the spring season," Hughes said. "With us being warmer, that could mean there is more energy in the atmosphere. So that could mean a more active season.

"Or if we have fewer events, that could mean the events could mean more active."

But it also could mean the exact opposite.

"It could mean we have a very quiet season," Hughes said. "Part of the reason we are warmer is because we aren't able to work some of that cooler Canadian air down here. And that is what typically helps us to have severe weather events here."

Remember, it doesn't take a ton of severe weather for you to have a bad severe weather season.

It only takes one storm to find your backyard.

This month also will go down as one of the warmest Februaries on record in Shreveport.