American Exceptionalism? Lower 48 Of U.S. Cold While Rest Of World Had A Hot January, 2025

Unlike most of the rest of the world, large
sections of the United States were cooler than
normal in January, 2025 (blue shading)

 Early data suggests the world had a record to near record hot January, 2025, but the United States, at least the Lower 48, didn't join the climate change hot party. 

I'll have another post with more details on global data very soon. But let's look at the United States first, courtesy of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

As almost all of the rest of the world basked in odd January warmth, it was a remarkably chilly January for the U.S. if you don't count Alaska and Hawaii. It was also incredibly dry. 

THE COLD

It was the 33rd coldest January out of the past 131 years in the Lower 48. It was the coldest January since 1988.

January bucked a trend toward warmer and warmer months thanks to climate change. Despite a warmer world, cold weather patterns can still develop, creating individual months that harken back to a colder time a few decades ago.

I hope you liked the chill of January, 2025, as this type of winter month will keep getting more and more rare. 

No state managed to have one of their top ten coldest Januaries, but nine states had one of their top 20 coldest Januaries. Few states were on the warm side. Only California, Oregon, Washington and Maine were a bit on the mild side. 

Meanwhile, Alaska has its 8th warmest January out of the past 101 years. 

THE DRY

It was sixth driest January on record across the U.S., too, as we really lacked the usual dynamic storms that regularly sweep across the nation in January, 

Seventeen states, including Vermont had one of top 10 driest Januaries this year. (Here in Vermont it was eight driest).  

Most of the U.S. was dry in January too. Anything
in beige or brown was dry on this map. Overall,
the Lower 48 had its sixth driest January on record. 

There were no states that were on the wet side, which is very unusual since in any given month, the nation is usually divided into wet areas and drier ones.  This time, everybody seems to have missed out on the precipitation. 

There were some relatively wet pockets in some states in the northwestern and central Plains, and in northern Florida, but they weren't enough to skew state averages to the wet side. 

About 42 percent of the nation was officially in drought in January, up about 4 percent from the end of 'December. 

This dryness was punctuated by the nation's first weather/climate related disaster of the year. Barely a week into the New Year, the extremely devastating California wildfires began,  At last check, the toll was 29 dead and 16,000 structures destroyed. 

Those fires have finally gone out as southern California has finally entered a somewhat wetter weather pattern. 

It seems does like there's a slight shift in February going on that should make the U.S, relatively warmer and wetter compared to average.  It won't be another January, but it still seems like it might turn out to be a slightly colder than average month for the Lower 48. 

The northern tier of the nation will probably still come out as cold in February, so the nation as a whole   will almost certainly not be among the warmer Februaries we've had. 

Unlike in January,  an active storm track from the the West Coast clear across to the Eastern Seaboard for much of this month will ensure a fairly wet February. Especially compared to January,