February still belongs to winter, but the first turn toward spring shows in the west: Indian plum leafs out, hummingbirds begin courtship dives, and gray whales pass northward off the coast. The Klamath Basin eagles and high-desert sage-grouse stir as the days lengthen.
Week by week in February
January 29 – February 4
- Indian plum opens its first drooping white flowers along valley streams — the classic first sign of spring in western Oregon.
- The Klamath eagles and waterfowl peak before the spring shuffle; great horned owls are already on eggs in the valley woods.
- Start tomatoes, peppers, and onions indoors under lights for the long season; finish dormant pruning before bud swell.
February 5–11
- Brant gather in the coastal bays, and toward week's end Greater Sage-Grouse begin assembling near their southeastern high-desert leks.
- The state flower, Oregon grape, lifts its bright yellow flower clusters, and red-flowering currant shows its first deep-pink buds.
- Orion, the Pleiades, and the winter hexagon ride high; February offers Oregon's best winter sky transparency on a clear cold night.
February 12–18
- As the valley soil dries between rains, direct-sow peas, spinach, and radishes, and set out onion sets and shallots.
- On a mild afternoon above 55°F, an overwintering mourning cloak may patrol a valley woodland edge — often Oregon's first butterfly of the year.
- Dungeness crab is still the coast's star, and the mild valley keeps cutting kale, chard, and the first purple sprouting broccoli.
February 19–25
- The first rufous hummingbirds can reach the southern Oregon coast, pushing north ahead of the spring; tree swallows are not far behind.
- Snowdrops, crocus, and hellebores carpet valley gardens, and red alder and hazel catkins reach full pollen along the streams.
- Willows push silvery pussy-willow catkins, and bigleaf maple and cottonwood buds swell and color toward bud break.
Birds This Month
February's wintering birds peak before the spring shuffle begins. The Klamath Basin still holds its great rafts of waterfowl and its concentration of wintering Bald Eagles, while the Willamette Valley refuges — Finley, Ankeny, Baskett Slough — brim with cackling and dusky Canada geese, northern pintail, and tundra swans on the wet pastures. Sauvie Island's sandhill cranes begin to grow restless.
On the coast, brant gather in the bays, black oystercatchers work the rocks, and the offshore scoters, loons, and marbled murrelets linger. Inland, Anna's hummingbirds are already display-diving and visiting feeders, and great horned owls are on eggs. Toward month's end, the first rufous hummingbirds can reach the southern coast, and Greater Sage-Grouse begin gathering near their leks in the southeastern high desert ahead of the spring strut.
What's Blooming
February is when the Pacific Northwest spring first stirs in earnest in the west. Indian plum (osoberry) opens its drooping white flowers along valley streams and trails — the classic first sign of spring in the Willamette Valley woods. The state flower, Oregon grape, begins lifting its bright yellow flower clusters above the holly-like foliage, and native red-flowering currant shows its first deep-pink buds toward month's end.
In gardens and arboretums, snowdrops, crocus, winter aconite, hellebores, and the early cyclamen coum carpet the ground, and ornamental plum and witch hazel bloom. Streamside red alder and hazel catkins are at full pollen, and pussy-willow catkins fatten on the willows. East of the Cascades the sagebrush steppe is still locked in snow and cold, with no bloom until the desert warms in April.
Garden This Month
February is the real start of the western Oregon outdoor garden. As soil dries between rains, direct-sow the cool-season crops — peas, fava beans, spinach, radishes, arugula, and early lettuce — and set out onion sets, shallots, and seed potatoes in the mildest valleys. Finish all dormant pruning of apples, pears, grapes, and blueberries before the buds swell, and apply dormant sprays if needed.
Indoors, start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant under lights, and keep onions and leeks growing on. Spread compost, top-dress beds, and stay off saturated ground to protect soil structure. Watch for slugs as it warms, and protect early sowings with cloches against the Willamette Valley's lingering frosts. East of the Cascades, the ground stays frozen; February is for planning, seed-starting indoors, and pruning on a rare thaw before the long high-desert spring.
Zone 6b (Bend & high desert): still deep winter; start onions, leeks, and slow flowers indoors, prune dormant fruit on a thaw, and resist sowing outside — hard frosts run well into spring at altitude.
Zone 8a (Willamette Valley): the soil works on dry windows now. Sow peas, fava beans, spinach, and radishes outdoors, set out onion sets and shallots, and plant bare-root fruit and cane. Finish dormant pruning of apples and blueberries before bud swell.
Zone 8b (southwest valleys & coast): a head start — direct-sow arugula, lettuce, carrots, and beets, and chit early potatoes for planting late month. Start tomatoes and peppers indoors under lights.
What's at the Farmers Market
February markets remain a winter affair carried by storage crops and the sea. The mild Willamette Valley keeps cutting kale, chard, leeks, and the first purple sprouting broccoli, and the cellars still hold sweet Hood River pears, storage apples, potatoes, onions, and winter squash. Oregon hazelnuts are abundant and fresh in the shell.
Dungeness crab is still the coast's star — late winter is prime season and the crab is sweet and full. Wild winter mushrooms appear from the Coast Range, and overwintered greens and roots fill the stalls at the year-round Portland and Corvallis markets. Choose crab heavy for its size, store storage pears at room temperature to ripen and apples cold and apart from greens, and keep hazelnuts cool to protect their oils. This is a quiet but genuinely Oregon market month.
Night Sky This Month
February offers Oregon's best winter sky transparency on a clear cold night, and the state's dark-sky destinations shine. East of the Cascades, the Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary near Lakeview and Prineville Reservoir State Park deliver pristine high-desert darkness, and Pine Mountain Observatory near Bend offers winter public viewing as weather allows. In the snow country, Crater Lake and Mount Hood's clear nights are spectacular when the storms pause.
The winter showpieces ride high: Orion with the glowing Orion Nebula in his sword, the Pleiades and Hyades in Taurus, brilliant Sirius low in the south, and the winter hexagon sprawling overhead through Auriga, Gemini, and Canis Major. The Milky Way runs faintly through Auriga and Perseus. There is no major meteor shower this month, so it is a fine time for the bright planets, the Moon, and deep-sky clusters; the printable Oregon night-sky guide gives this year's planet positions and best dark-sky windows.
Butterflies & Pollinators
February's mild western afternoons begin to wake Oregon's overwintering butterflies. The mourning cloak emerges on the warmest days from its winter shelter in bark crevices and woodpiles to patrol valley woodland edges, joined occasionally by hibernating California tortoiseshells, Satyr commas, and green commas in the foothills and Coast Range when temperatures climb past 55°F.
By late month, in the mildest southwest valleys, the first spring-brood butterflies can stir — a Sara orangetip in a warm canyon or an early spring azure in the Rogue Valley — but these are exceptions, not the rule. Most species remain dormant as eggs, caterpillars, or chrysalids, timed to the coming flush of spring nectar. In the snow-locked eastern high desert, nothing flies. Leave brush piles, leaf litter, and standing perennial stems undisturbed now; they shelter the hibernating adults and overwintering chrysalids that will fill the spring.
Trees This Month
February shows the first tree stirrings of the western Oregon spring while the eastside stays dormant. Streamside red alder shed clouds of pollen from lengthening catkins, and native hazel dangles its catkins and tiny red female flowers along the valley creeks. The willows push out silvery pussy-willow catkins, and the buds of bigleaf maple and cottonwood begin to swell and color.
The conifers still define the landscape — Douglas-fir (the state tree), western hemlock, western redcedar, and Sitka spruce deep green in the rain — and the evergreen broadleaf Pacific madrone and tanoak hold the southwest hills. Indian plum is the first native to leaf out, a green haze in the gray woods, and ornamental flowering plums and the earliest cherries bloom in valley towns. East of the Cascades, the ponderosa pine and western juniper stand over snow, fully dormant until the high-desert thaw.
Weather & Daylight
Across Oregon, a typical February day averages a high near 44°F and a low near 27°F, with about 3.4 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Still cold but the edge softens a touch, chilly mid-40 highs with frequent rain and a lingering winter grayness.
| Average high | 44°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 27°F |
| Precipitation | 3.4 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 7:09 PT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 17:36 PT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (PT).
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Same month elsewhere: February in Pennsylvania · February in Rhode Island · February in South Carolina