Meteorological Spring Began Saturday. Doesn't Feel Like It Now, But...

If NOAA's seasonal forecast is right, chance lean
toward a generally warm spring here in Vermont 

We did the February weather summary in Saturday's post, and now we can also take a look at Vermont's meteorological winter, and what spring might look like. 

Meteorological winter runs from December 1 through February 28- except of course in Leap Years, when it's February 29.

Meteorological spring goes from March 1 through May 31.  The seasons are divided this way mostly just to make it easier for climatologists to compare seasons. 

While each winter month in Vermont was wildly different from each other - for instance, January was super dry and December and February were a little on the wet side - the winter of 2024-25 worked out to be right around average, as measure in Burlington, anyway.

The average temperature for the three months was 23.8, which is just 0.2 degrees cooler than the average of the years 1990-2020.  

As I always do, I'll note that the 1990-2020 average is warmer than the 20th century average, because climate change had notably taken over by then.  Had the winter of 2024-25 actually then place in the mid-20th century, it would have been considered a warmer than average winter. 

Also at Burlington, precipitation from December 1, 2024 through February 28, 2025 amounted to 6.31 inches. That's a mere 0.09 inches below average - essentially normal.

The winter outlook for our region, released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) last October 17 indicated chances skewed slightly toward a warm winter in Vermont, and there were equal chances of above or below normal precipitation. So they were pretty close. 

For what it's worth, the spring outlook has been released. Predictions lean toward a warm spring across the South and up the eastern seaboard, including here in Vermont. If this forecast works out the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies would have a cool spring. 

For us here in Vermont, NOAA has equal chances of it being wet or dry, with maybe a slight lean toward being on the wetter side.