February is the cold heart of late winter in Vermont, but the light is returning and the first stirrings of the year begin. Great horned owls nest in the frozen woods, the days lengthen noticeably, and by month's end the earliest sap may begin to move in the sugar maples.
Week by week in February
January 29 – February 4
- On milder mornings, chickadees begin whistling their two-note 'fee-bee' spring song — the first audible turn toward the season ahead.
- Set up the grow-light shelf and start the slowest seedlings — onions, leeks, and celery — for transplants you'll set out in late May.
- The sugar maples' buds are still tight, but lengthening days are beginning to set up the freeze-thaw cycle that will run the sap in March.
February 5–11
- Great horned owls are already nesting, the females incubating through subzero nights; listen for pairs duetting at dusk across the valleys.
- February's cold, clear nights are among the year's best — the Orion Nebula glows in his sword and the Winter Hexagon fills the south.
- Finish dormant pruning of apples, pears, and grapes on a calm, mild day before the sap rises later in the month.
February 12–18
- Northern cardinals sing from the treetops at dawn as the lengthening days trigger breeding hormones — a welcome sound in the deep cold.
- Mars and the steady winter constellations climb high, and the faint Beehive Cluster in Cancer rises in the east later in the evening.
- Clean and disinfect seed trays and mix potting soil now, before the indoor-sowing schedule ramps up over the next several weeks.
February 19–25
- In the mildest valleys, sugarmakers begin tapping trees and hanging buckets as alternating freezes and thaws start the sap moving.
- Barred owls call from the wet woods at dusk, and the Champlain Valley still holds wintering snowy owls and the occasional northern shrike.
- The first pussy willows may push silvery catkins along stream edges and roadside ditches in the warmer valleys as the snow softens.
Birds This Month
February feeders look much like January's — black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers, cardinals, and blue jays — but the soundtrack changes. On lengthening days, chickadees start whistling their two-note fee-bee spring song, and cardinals sing from the treetops at dawn. In irruption winters, common redpolls, pine siskins, and evening grosbeaks are still around the seed and crabapples.
This is owl month. Great horned owls are already on eggs, the females incubating through subzero nights — listen for pairs duetting at dusk across the valleys. Barred owls call from the wet woods, and Vermont's irregular winter visitors, the snowy owl and occasional northern shrike, still patrol the open Champlain Valley farmland. Bald eagles remain concentrated on open water along Lake Champlain and the larger rivers.
This month's tip: keep feeders stocked through the late-winter cold and start watching for the first returning red-winged blackbirds and common grackles, which can appear in the warmest southern valleys by the very end of the month.
What's Blooming
February is still locked in winter across Vermont, with no wildflowers blooming and the ground frozen beneath the snow. The landscape's color remains in the conifers and in the bright twigs and persistent fruit — the red of red-osier dogwood, the lingering berries of winterberry and highbush cranberry, and the rosy buds of red maple beginning to swell on warm days. By late month, the strengthening sun softens the snow on south slopes, and the first pussy willows may push silvery catkins along stream edges and roadside ditches in the milder valleys — one of the very first signs that the long thaw is coming. Indoors it's still amaryllis, forced-bulb, and seed-starting season, the windowsills filling with the promise of the garden ahead.
Garden This Month
February is when Vermont gardeners move from planning to action — indoors. It's the month to start the slowest seedlings under lights: onions, leeks, celery, and some herbs need the long head start to be ready by the late-May planting date. Clean and disinfect seed trays, mix potting soil, and finish ordering anything still missing from the seed list.
Outdoors, finish dormant pruning of apples, pears, and grapes on a calm, mild day before the sap rises late in the month — pruning while the trees are fully asleep limits disease spread and lets you shape the canopy clearly against the snow. Keep snow banked over perennial beds and against foundations for insulation, watch for deer and rodent browsing on young bark, and brush heavy snow off evergreens. The garden is still sleeping, but the work that makes the season has already begun.
Zone 4b (central Vermont & valleys): set up the grow-light shelf and start the slowest crops — onions, leeks, and celery — for transplants you'll set out in late May. Keep snow banked over perennials, and finish dormant pruning of apples on a calm, mild day.
Zone 5a (lower Champlain Valley): the warmest zone is still frozen, but it's prime indoor-sowing time — start onions, leeks, and slow herbs early in the month. Finish pruning apples and grapes before the sap rises, and prune oaks while dormant.
Zone 5b (warmest lakeshore pockets): in Vermont's mildest microclimates the snow may thin on south slopes; still no outdoor planting, but the longest indoor-start window of the state opens now for onions, leeks, and early brassicas.
What's at the Farmers Market
February markets in Vermont remain winter markets, anchored by the durable harvest. Indoor markets and farm stands carry storage onions, garlic, carrots, beets, parsnips, potatoes, cabbage, celeriac, and winter squash still keeping well from the fall, along with cold-storage apples and cold-frame greens.
This is also deep maple anticipation: last year's syrup is still on the tables, and sugarmakers are tapping trees and checking lines for the run that begins as soon as the thaws start. Cheese and dairy remain the stars of the Vermont winter table — aged cheddars, alpine-style rounds, and fresh chèvre — joined by honey, eggs, maple confections, and grass-fed meats. Store roots cool, dark, and humid, keep squash cool and dry, and wrap cheese in waxed paper to let it breathe; the winter pantry carries the season until the first green of spring.
Night Sky This Month
February's cold, clear nights are among the best for stargazing all year, and Vermont's rural darkness rewards the bundled observer. Orion still rules the south, with the faint glow of the Orion Nebula visible in his sword through binoculars, and the great Winter Hexagon — anchored by Sirius, Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel, Procyon, and the Gemini twins — fills the southern sky. Mars and the steady winter constellations climb high, and later in the night the faint Beehive Cluster in Cancer rises in the east.
There's no major meteor shower this month, so February is for constellations and deep-sky targets in the steady, dry air. On nights of strong geomagnetic activity, the northern horizon may glow with the aurora borealis, best seen from the dark ridges and the Northeast Kingdom away from town lights.
For this year's exact planet positions and aurora outlook, consult the printable Vermont night-sky guide, which lists the specifics for your part of the state.
Butterflies & Pollinators
February is still butterfly-free in Vermont — far too cold, with snow over the whole state. The summer's species remain locked in their overwintering forms, scattered and dormant through the frozen woods and fields. Monarchs are still clustered in the Mexican mountains, weeks away from beginning their long return north. The hardy overwintering adults — mourning cloaks, eastern commas, and question marks — wait behind bark and in woodpiles, protected by the natural antifreeze that lets them emerge on the first warm days of spring. Others, like the swallowtails and fritillaries, ride out the cold as chrysalises or partly grown caterpillars. It remains a planning month for the butterfly gardener: sketch a sunny bed of native milkweed, asters, and joe-pye weed now, and you'll have the nectar and host plants ready when the first mourning cloak takes wing in April.
What to plant for them is in the Vermont native plants guide
Trees This Month
Vermont's trees are still dormant, but the year's most distinctly Vermont tree event is about to begin. As February's lengthening days warm and freezing nights alternate, sap starts to move in the sugar maples — the freeze-thaw pressure that pushes the sweet sap that defines the state's spring. By late month, in the milder valleys, sugarmakers tap their trees and hang buckets or run tubing through the snowy sugarbushes.
The conifers — balsam fir, red spruce, white pine, and eastern hemlock — still hold the only green, and the bare hardwoods show their winter character: the smooth elephant-gray bark of American beech (still clinging to pale leaves), the white of paper birch, and the swelling red buds of red maple that hint at the season turning. The woods are quiet, but underground and in the trunks, the year is beginning to stir.
Weather & Daylight
Across Vermont, a typical February day averages a high near 30°F and a low near 9°F, with about 2.6 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Still deep-freeze territory, highs barely climbing to 30F while modest snow or drizzle keeps sidewalks icy and gray.
| Average high | 30°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 9°F |
| Precipitation | 2.6 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 6:51 ET |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 17:19 ET |
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 (ET).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Vermont's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
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The complete Vermont birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: February in Virginia · February in Washington · February in West Virginia