Vermont February Was Snowy, Stormy, Still Not Historically Wildly Out Of Whack

A snow squall cuts visibility in St. Albans to near zero
on February 7.  This year brought Vermont one of the 
snowier Februaries on record. 

 The February climate data is in for Vermont, and as you've probably already guessed, we had a true winter month for a change. 

Even so, it wasn't really that out of the ordinary compared to past Februarys in the state.

Temperatures.

We were pretty consistent statewide, with pretty much all weather stations running between about 1.5 to 2 degrees cooler than normal, give or take. 

Remember, though, "normal" is the new normal. It's based on the average of the years 1990 to 2020. Those years were already warmer than the 20th century average, thanks to climate change.

Based on this "new normal," February, 2025 in Burlington came in at 1.7 degrees chillier than average. But had this exact same month occurred in the 1960s or 1970s, it would have been regarded as slightly warmer than average. 

Still, the month just ended was Burlington's coldest February in a decade.  

Temperatures never went to extremes at any time in February, really. February temperatures historically in Burlington have ranged as high as 72 degrees (in 2017) to as low as minus 30 (in 1979).

This year, the highest it ever got in Burlington was 47 and the lowest was 8 below.  No daily record high or low temperatures were set. 

Climate change has made daily record highs in Burlington generally more frequent. But we haven't had a record high since December 30. I wonder if we're overdue for that. 

Snow

It took a lot of shoveling to keep up with the snow in
Vermont during February, 2025

As you might have noticed, we definitely had a snowy month. Burlington accumulated a total of 33.2 inches in February, making it the fifth snowiest February on record. (Top spot goes to the very snowy year of 2011, when 43.1 inches of snow fell in February). 

The snow depth atop Mount Mansfield reached 98 inches by February 27 and 28. That's far above the average depth of 65 inches there for late February. 

I hope all this snow gave a boost to Vermont's economy. There were no thaws in Vermont to the very end of the month, and even then, temperatures weren't that hot.  Which means snow conditions for all kinds of winter sports were primo. 

Even though February was snowy, low elevations have not had a particular snowy winter. Burlington through February 28 has had 64.4 inches of snow since the first flurries came in November. That's jus slightly below the average for this date of 65.

Melted Precipitation

With all that snow, the water equivalent of the frozen precipitation and any rain that fell was above normal for February across Vermont.  That's a good thing, since most of the state still has a few lingering effects from last autumn's drought. All this snow melting in the spring will help with replenishing ground water. 

Burlington had 2.58 inches of rain and melted snow in February, which is a little over three quarters of an inch above normal. By my count, this February was Burlington's 21st wettest out of the past 141 years. 

Most everyone else in Vermont had about the same amount of precipitation as Burlington, except of course in the mountains, which had more. Most Vermont weather stations had about a half to two thirds of an inch more precipitation than average.

Looking Ahead.

More than perhaps any other month, March is a weather wildcard in Vermont. Early indications are this month will be no exception. 

We woke up this morning in much of the state with a little new snow on the ground, which is starting to melt as temperatures briefly rise above freezing. Then, temperatures will horrible crash starting this afternoon and continuing into Monday morning. 

After some below zero temperatures Sunday and Monday morning, it looks like we'll warm up to thawing and rain by midweek. From there, I imagine we'll have the kind of roller coaster we almost always have in March: One day wintry, the next springlike then back to winter.