The Midwest is experiencing a ‘lost winter.’ Here’s what that means.

From the northern Plains to the Great Lakes, February is typically a time for winter revelry, set against a landscape of deep snow and iced-over waterways. But this year, snow is absent, ice is dangerously thin, and many cities are experiencing their warmest winter on record.

Across most of Minnesota and Wisconsin, average temperatures are 10 degrees or more above average for the season. Ice cover over the Great Lakes is at record lows. Wisconsin even observed its first February tornado on record, fueled in part by the warmth.