Why has it been so weirdly warm this February?

• The warmest February was 1999, when the average temperature was 39.1.
• If warm weather continues, it could push February to 5 degrees above normal -- about 38.5 degrees.
• You can at least partially thank a pool of cold water more than 4,000 miles way for the warm trend.

If you’re not a fan of winter, here’s some good news: Unseasonably warm weather is expected to continue through the rest of February, with highs in the 50s and 60s on most days and even a chance for a high of 70 degrees on Thursday.

“It looks like we are going to be challenging the record for warmest February in New Jersey,” said David Robinson, the state climatologist and a Rutgers University professor.

So what’s going on – why does it feel like we live in Atlanta or even Jacksonville right now?

Believe it or not, you can at least partly thank a pool of cold water more than 4,000 miles away, in the northern Pacific Ocean off Alaska’s coast.

WARM: Spring-like temperatures return to North Jersey

WEEKEND: Temperatures break, tie records for heat

EARLIER IN THE MONTH: North Jersey digs its way out of first big snowstorm of season

WEATHER: The latest forecast

Here’s how it works:

That cold pool of water in the northern Pacific reinforces a dip to the south in the jet stream over the Pacific Northwest – which helps reinforce a high-pressure ridge over the eastern United States, Robinson said.

That high-pressure ridge, in turn, has forced the jet stream over this region to retreat to the north. As a result, cold air from Canada can’t muscle into our area.

“This ridge has begun to be quite persistent,” Robinson said. “It has ruled our weather more often than not in recent weeks. Sometimes it weakens, and we’ll get a blast of colder air, but for the most part it has remained in place.”

In a high-pressure system, the air subsides, which helps it warm and dry out. That leads to clear skies, which allows the sun to melt snow cover and warm the air further. And since snow cover keeps temperatures down by reflecting warmth away from the ground, the absence of snow cover allows the warming to continue.

A few years ago, a reverse setup gave us frequent blasts of cold winter air from Canada, and much talk about the polar vortex. In that case, a warm pool of water in the Pacific contributed to a ridge over the Pacific Northwest, which allowed the jet stream to dip south in the East, letting cold air pour into New Jersey.

Normally we see highs in the low to mid-40s in February. But New Jersey this month is running 3 to 4 degrees above normal, depending on the location.

Sunday’s temperatures broke records in North Jersey, and there could be another round of record-breaking temperatures later this week, Robinson said.

That would make this February the third-warmest on record, dating to 1895. The warmest February was 1999, when the average temperature was 39.1.

That high-pressure ridge has also prevented storms from the west from reaching our area – either pushing them north into New England or down into the Southeast, spawning the type of weather that included a series of destructive tornadoes in Louisiana earlier this month.

Aside from the snowstorm a few weeks ago, February has been relatively dry in New Jersey, and that has prevented the state Department of Environmental Protection from lifting a drought warning that has been in effect since October. While drinking water reservoirs have recovered from dangerous lows last summer, “the groundwater and stream flows are still on the low side,” Robinson said.