Incredibly, Vermont Just Had A Top 10 Warmest Year, Sixth Year In A ROW That Happened

A torrid reading on a bank time/temperature sign in
St. Albans, Vermont on June 23. Incredibly, as 
measured in Burlington, 2025 was the sixth
consecutive year that was among the top ten
hottest years on record. 

Crunching the year 2025 weather data from Burlington, Vermont, I was surprised as hell to find out that the year just ended was the ninth warmest on record. 

That makes 2025 the sixth year in a row that was among the top ten warmest on record. 

There are 12 years in the top ten warmest years list, due to ties. Now, all but one of the top ten warmest years in Burlington happened since 2006. The rather recent year 1998 is the only other year in the top ten. Records go back to the 1880s.

Climate change is making its mark in Vermont, that's for sure. 

According to an April, 2025 Climate Central report, Vermont is the 6th fastest warming state in the U.S. Out of 242 U.S. cities Climate Central analyzed, Burlington is the fifth fastest warming city, after Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada and El Paso and Tyler, Texas. 

I was surprised 2025 scored in the top 10 because we had such a chilly December,  But the streak goes on. 

Still, 2025 was the coldest year since 2019, which was the 28th warmest on record, which is still a pretty high ranking. 

Until things started cooling down at the end of the year, 2025 was consistently warm. Burlington logged in with the fifth warmest spring and the fifth warmest summer on record.

March and July tied for the sixth warmest on record, Burlington tied for the seventh warmest June on record and tied for the tenth warmest September. 

The hottest temperature of the year was 99 degrees on June 23rd, which ties for the third hottest day on record in Burlington. Across the pond in Plattsburgh, it reached 101 that day, their hottest day on record. 

Seven daily record highs were tied or broken in Burlington during 2025. The 86 degree reading on October 5, tied the all time record for that entire month. That 86 degree October high was first set just a year earlier, in 2024.

Seventeen days in 2025 in Burlington reached 90 degrees. That brings to ten the number of years that have had at least that many 90 degree days. It was the sixth year in a row with at least ten 90 degree days. Until now, that hadn't happened before. 

RAINFALL AND DROUGHT 

The past year might be most remembered as slamming Vermont with a severe drought. It's true that precipitation in the summer and early autumn was below normal. But we've seen worse. The trouble had a lot to do with the above normal temperatures. 

Climate change again. 

Things were drying out by mid-August but then a weird heat wave hit. We endure three days of temperature sin the mid and upper 90s peaking with a reading of 98 degrees on August 12. Most Vermont heat waves are quite humid. The record June heat wave brought some of the highest dew points on record. It was actually far more muggy than Florida. 

The August heat wave was different. It was desert dry. So dry, that it set off a flash drought, Things deteriorated to dangerous levels in days. Then it kept worsening gradually until right after that record heat in early October. October was actually the fourth wettest on record in Burlington.

Gradual recovery ensued. 

Overall, rainfall in Burlington was 38.19 inches, or 0.66 inches above normal. It was actually the 29th wettest year in the 132 years I analyzed. 

We also had the third July 10 flood disaster on record. Severe flooding on July 10, 2025 mostly hit the Northeast Kingdom. It wasn't as bad as in 2023 and 2024, but bad enough.