Vermont June In Vermont Was Wet And Warm, Stormy And Sunny

The highlight of Vermont's warm, wet June was a pair
of tornadoes that hit the state on June 18. This is a
photo of tree damage in Woodstock from 
one of the tornadoes, 

The numbers are in for what the climate was like in June, and as you'd expect, almost all of us experienced  a warm and wet June. 

In Burlington it was both the 15th warmest and 15th wettest June out of the past 135 years or so. The actual mean temperature in Burlington for June was 69.1 degrees.

That came in at only 1.6 degrees above normal, which you'd think wouldn't qualify the month at being 15th warmest.  But, as I remind you practically every month, this is the "new normal." It's based on the average of 1990 to 2020 when climate change had already made things around here warmer than the 20th century average. 

I imagine in several decades, the month we just had would be considered chilly 

The pattern in Burlington was repeated across the state, except the extreme southwest, where average temperatures for June, 2026 were close to average. 

However, most other weather stations that I checked were roughly between one and two degrees warmer than average.

Much of the state was wet, too. Burlington's 5.56 inches was 1.4 inches above average. As we get into the summer months, precipitation around the state gets much more variable. And so it was in June. Montpelier June total was 4.26 inches, just a few hundredths of an inch above normal.

It was both a pleasant month, as we got our fair share of sunny, comfortable days. But it was also stormy.  The highlight were the two tornadoes that hit Vermont on June 18. One was in a remote part of Lincoln, but the other was in a fairly busy spot along Route 4 in Woodstock. Given that the Woodstock tornado had wind speeds up to 100 mph, it's a very pleasant surprise that motorists along Route 4 or in nearby buildings weren't hurt. 

Other events included a supercell that caused damage in northwest and central Rutland County on June 26.

Also, on June 11, some flash flooding with road damage was reported in Hardwick and Wolcott.

For July, we already know it's starting out wicked hot, so it seems chances are it will be a hot July. NOAA is leaning just slightly toward giving us a warmer than normal July here in Vermont. If that's right, maybe soe cool weather late in the month will offset the current terrible heat. It's worth dreaming. 

NOAA also is slightly leaning toward a wetter than average July. We shall see!

As El Nino Was Brewing, May Was World's Second Hottest On Record

May, 2026 was the world's second hottest on record.
An El Nino has started, which is expected to work 
with climate change to bring global temperatures
 to new and dangerous heights. 

 We're closing in on the end of June, and I realize I never did do my monthly fever check of the world in May 2026. 

As has been the case for years now under the onslaught of climate change, the world continues to run a very high fever.

May, 2026 was the world's second hottest on record, trailing only 2024, the NOAA's National Centers for Environment Information tells us. If you are under the age of 50, you have never seen a May in which the world was even a little cooler than average. 

Climate change has been with us for half a century, and in the past couple of decades, that has gotten more and more obvious.

The warmest places relative to average were much of the Arctic and Antarctica, central Canada and the northwest United States, western Russian, much of southwestern Asia and parts of the North Pacific.

The Pacific Ocean off the west coasts of Mexico and northwestern South American were very warm. That was a sign that El Nino was building. 

Officials declared this month that El Nino is underway. It's forecast to reach record intensity. Since El Ninos tend to warm the climate, a combination of an extreme El Nino and climate change is bad news for the next several months at least. El Nino is expected to peak this winter. 

More intense and longer heat waves, intense droughts and storms are on the horizon for many parts of Earth. Buckle your seat belts, it's going to be a rough ride. 

As usual, you could find a few cooler spots around the world. Those included centra South amerce, northeast Russia, western Australia, Southern Africa, eastern Antarctica and a portion of the North Atlantic south of Greenland. 

That "cold blob" south of Greenland is ominous, too. It's a sign that fresh water from melting glaciers in Greenland is messing with the currents in the Atlantic Ocean. If the warm currents that keep western Europe mild collapse, there could be sudden and extreme changes to the climate in Europe and elsewhere. Nobody is prepared for these changes. 

So yeah, I'm full of good news with this post.

Let's move on to how the United States has been doing. 

UNITED STATES

May, 2026 was warm out West and a little cooler
but not extremely so in the East. 

May was the 28th warmest, or 105 coolest, if you want to look at it that way, says NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. 

As had been the case all winter and early spring the west was on the warm side while eastern states were somewhat cooler. Three states - Washington, Oregon and Florida, had one of their top ten Mays on record. 

No state had a particularly cool May. The state that came closest to a chilly May was West Virginia, which had the 39th coolest May out of the past 131 years. Here in Vermont, it was the 51st coolest out of the past 131 years. 

The United States had its  55th driest on record, or 78th wettest May on record NCEI says. Idaho, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan had one of their top ten driest Mays on record. On the other hand, top 10 wettest May honors for 2026 go to Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. 

Vermont, as you might remember, was also on the damp side. The Green Mountain State had its 19 wettest May out of the past 131 years. 

It won't be long until we have our June summary to see how the start of El Nino is affecting us and the rest o the world. That report should come out in mid-July.

A Cool, Wet Spring In Vermont Kept Gardens Blooming, Frustrated Warm Weather Fans. With Some Exceptions

The cool, wet character of May, 2026 made it a great daffodil
growing month. This photo was taken May 10 in St. 
Albans, Vermont.

I didn't finish our May Vermont climate summary yesterday, so my bad. 

The weather forecast this week is straight forward enough. Sunny with a warming trend through the week, with perhaps some showers late in the week. Summer weather is here .

So let's 'get into what we Vermonters went through during the month of May

 The month of May in Vermont that just ended was definitely on the cool side, and in most places, wet, too.

We didn't break any records with temperatures or precipitation, but it was cooler, cloudier and more damp that we've gotten used to in recent Mays.

COOL MAY

In Burlington, the average temperature was 57.1 degrees, or 1.3 degrees below what is now considered average. As I always mention, average isn't what it used to be.  Nowadays, we compare months to the average of a recent 30 year period. Months in the 20th century were cooler than they are now. 

You can see that in the stats. Out of the past 135 years, this May was the 82 coolest, or 53rd warmest. So by historical standards, May was a little on the warm side.  

Most weather stations in Vermont were about the same degree cooler than the modern average as Burlington. Rutland, Montpelier and St. Johnsbury were all around one to two degrees on the cool side. Bennington was 2.3 degrees below normal. 

Nineteen days in Burlington were cooler than  normal, but the cold was never extreme. All of the cool days were less than 10 degrees below normal. The month's chill was offset by a brief heat wave that set temperatures soaring to near record heights on May 18-19. The low temperature in Burlington on the 19th was a muggy 71 degrees, a record for the date.

WET MAY

It was a wet month, with rainfall pretty well distributed throughout the month. We never came close to dealing with any flooding issues.  

Burlington had 4.88 inches of rain, which was a little over an inch above normal. It was the 22nd wettest May out of the past 143 years. (The wettest May was in 2013, with 8.74 inches.)

Most other places in Vermont, with the exception of the far south, had a wetter than average May, too. Montpelier had nearly six inches of rain, which was 2.39 inches above average. St. Johnsbury was given a boost by a super soaker of a rainstorm on the 30th. Their month total worked out to 6.46 inches, which was 2.7 inches above average.

Far southern Vermont was drier. Bennington had 2.56 inches of rain, nearly an inch on the dry side.

LOOKING AHEAD

For what it's worth, NOAA's monthly outlook says odds lean fairly heavily toward a warmer than normal June. There's also a somewhat greater than even chance of a dry June, according to NOAA's predictions.

That matches the forecast for the opening week of June, anyway, which will be warm and dry. 

NOAA got May's prediction basicalliy right. They said the month's temperatures would be near to somewhat below normal, and that's true. They also said there were equal chances of above or below normal precipitation. Since most of the state was wet but the south was dry, I'll give it to them.

 

Flash Heat Wave Monday, Questions About Heat And Storms Today, Then Sharply Cooler Late Week

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center still extends their
slight risk of severe thunderstorms into Vermont.
(Everything in yellow is a slight risk).

That was a wild weather ride on Monday! 

Northern Vermont in particular endured the day's weather whiplash. As I noted in yesterday morning's post, the day began stormy and cold with fitful downpours, local gusty winds and even a rumble or two of thunder. 

Burlington reached 90 degrees by late afternoon, after a rainy early morning low of 51 degrees. By afternoon, we were sweating in a brief May heat wave that is already over-performing. 

I saw somewhere on social media where somebody in Vermont said they ran their furnace in the morning and air conditioner in the afternoon.

I'd call it a flash heat wave. Like a sudden flash flood, only hot air, not water. 

The day featured a rare temperature stat: Burlington had its first 80 degree temperature of the season Sunday. And only a day later, the first 90 of the season hit.  The same thing happened in April, 2002, but I wonder if this week and 2002 were the only times something like that happened. 

There has always been the occasional May in Burlington in which the temperature hit 90. But probably at least in part due to climate change, 90 degree May days are getting more common. In the 109 years in Burlington ending in 2009, we had 14 Mays that reached at least 90 degrees.

But in the 16 years since 2010, there have already been eight such days in May.  

Elsewhere in Vermont, the high in Bennington Monday was 89 degrees. Montpelier reached 86 degrees after a morning low of 46.  A temperature change of 40 degrees in just one day is pretty wild. 

The heat isn't only a Vermont thing, of course. Philadelphia reached 96 degrees Monday, a record for the date. It was also the second hottest May temperature on record.  In New York City, a high of 95 is expected today, followed by an incredibly stuffy overnight low tonight of 77. It should hit 90 degrees in the Big Apple again tomorrow. 

Heat advisories are in effect for much of southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Hartford, Connecticut had its second day in a row of 90 degree temperatures Monday. Today's forecast high there is a whopping 96 degrees. The forecast high in Springfield today is 97.

VERMONT FORECAST

Back here in Vermont, the degree of heat today will depend on the level of cloud cover.  Severe thunderstorms are also possible, but there might be factors that allow us to luck out and avoid the worst of the storms. Maybe. 

We're certainly off to a very warm, muggy start. It looks like the low temperature this morning in Burlington was 71 degrees, so if you didn't sleep well in the Champlain Valley, that's why. If that low temperature holds through midnight, it'll break the record for warmest low temperature for the date. (The current record holder is 67 degrees way back in 1903.  

As the day goes on the valleys of southern Vermont have the best chance of reaching 90 degrees today, as they'll have the most sun.  The National Weather Service forecast for Springfield, for instance is 92 degrees.

I think clouds might prevent another 90 degree day in Burlington today, we'll see about that. There was already a batch of clouds and light showers in central and western New York early this morning. Those clouds might not clear out fast enough to allow another 90 degree day. Though we're starting out pretty warm, so it's still possible. 

The next question is severe thunderstorms. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center still has a slight risk - level 2 alert on a scale of 5 - for the northwest half of Vermont and a level one marginal risk for the southeast. 

The amount of instability in the atmosphere over us isn't huge over us today, which is a limiting factor for storms. But there is a subtle disturbance in the atmosphere due by early afternoon. That, combined with rising air near mountains could trigger some storms.

Also, cool air coming off of Lake Champlain sometimes creates these teeny tiny miniature cold fronts which are boundaries between the cool lake air and the warmer inland air. Those could be triggering spots for storms. After that, cool winds blasting out of thunderstorms could set up additionally teeny tiny little cold fronts elsewhere, which would trigger more storms. 

Bottom line: Some of us will see showers or storms, some of us will stay dry.  A small number of us could experience strong, even damaging winds from storms. This won't be a widespread severe storm event. 

We don't know who, if anybody will get those rambunctious storms. Pay attention to the skies if you're outdoors, and have a way to receive severe storm warnings, just in case. 

TONIGHT/TOMORROW

After another stuffy night coming up, Wednesday will bring another big change. A cold front will stumble through, in the morning north, afternoon south and east. The timing of it means the north will probably just see some scattered showers in the morning, with clearing skies and highs in the 70s during the afternoon. 

Southeast Vermont could see some thunderstorms but severe ones seem unlikely, at least for now. Highs in the south look like they want to get up into the 80s

THURSDAY/FRIDAY

More big changes in a roller coaster of a weather week. We'll wake up to sharply colder temperatures Thursday morning with lows in the 38 to 45 degrees. Under at least partly sunny if not clear skies, temperatures should only get into the mid and upper 50s north,  and some 60s south. 

Since it will be so cool, there might be some frost Thursday night and early Friday in areas of Vermont away from the Champlain Valley.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

A toss up on how the holiday weekend will turn out. The American weather model keeps showers at bay Saturday and Sunday, leaving us with partly sunny skies and cool highs in the 60s.  The European model brings showers into our area Saturday and Sunday. Both models give us some showers on Monday, Memorial Day. 

Top FEMA Official Says He's Been Teleported Several Times. Including To A Waffle House

Gregg Phillips, a top official at FEMA, says he's been
teleported numerous times.  That doesn't add a lot 
of confidence about an agency that's supposed to 
help disaster victims, but has been in disarray
ever since the Trump administration took over. 

A top official at FEMA filling a critical role in disaster recovery, says he is often teleported, and he spreads wild and violent sounding conspiracy theories, we learned from various media sources this month. 

Another case of the inmates running the asylum in Washington, I guess.  And his presence at the Federal Emergency Management Agency probably does not make disaster victims rest any easier. 

The guy's name is Gregg Phillips, and hoo boy, buckle in. 

The piece of his saga that's gotten the most attention is that Phillips blames he was teleported 50 miles to a Waffle House.  Or at least he doesn't remember getting there. Here's his exact quote from a January, 2025 podcast:

"I was with my boys one time and I was telling them I was gonna go to Waffle House and get Waffle House. and I ended up at a Waffle House - this was in Georgia and I end up at a Waffle House like 50 miles away from where I was."

I dunno, Show me a person who doesn't remember traveling 50 miles to a Waffle House and I'll show you somebody who was really super drunk. Allegedly. Who knows what was going on?

We cam all laugh, but Phillips has an important role in regards to weather and climate disasters. Per CNN:

"FEMA officials have described Phillips' job as among the most consequential in the agency, involving decisions that affect search-and-rescue-operations, emergency aid, infrastructure restoration and ultimately distributing billions of dollars in disaster assistance."

 Weirdness  seems to be a thing in this administration. Trump is a teetotaler, but Secretary of Defense Pete Kegsbreath, Hegseth has a bit of a frat boy party reputation, despite his newfound devotion to his brand of devout Catholicism. 

Then there's FBI director Kash Patel who is suing the Atlantic for $250 million for what looks like a well-researched account of his, ahem, definite taste for alcohol. Allegedly, of course. 

And I don't even want to get into RFK Jr. 

For a change, I see no evidence Phillips actually has a drinking problem, but he does have a lot of  stories of being teleported.  Which is arguably worse than a drinking habit. 

He says he doesn't like the experience.

"Teleporting is no fun.....It's no fun because you don't really know what you're doing. You don't really understand it it's scary, but yet, um, but so real. And you know it's  happening but you can't do anything about it, and so you just go, you just go with the ride. And wow, what just an incredible adventure it all was."

I'm also not sure who or what supposedly teleported Phillips to destinations like a Waffle House, and why that happened. Ah, the mysteries of life. 

Phillips dropped some hints about where all the came from on Truth Social, the social media platform that Trump calls home. The teleportation had something to do with a "spiritual journey" when he was battling cancer, and that the Bible has lots of examples of supernatural events. 

 OK. I just wish he could have teleported those recent tornadoes that struck cities like Union City, Michigan, .Kankakee, Illinois and Enid, Oklahoma.

There are other things about Phillips you might not like.  He doesn't sound especially.....compassionate. Which is kinda what you need in a time of disaster. 

Phillips apparently went to the Steven Miller school of immigration. Here's what he said about migrants coming to the U.S.

"They want you dead.....They've come here to kill you And if anybody believes it any differently, they're wrong. These people are here to fight. They're here to fight us. They're here at war"

Paranoid much?

He also posted crude, typo-ridden insults against other people on social media, but I won't get into it here. 

This is another example of how Trump seems to let nutcases do the serious business of running the government, with most of them being stupid, arrogant, crooked and just weird. 

Phillips, though, believe it or not, seems to be doing a better job that most Trump appointees. That's not saying much, but that's the world we live in. Phillips took on his FEMA position shortly before a series of destructive winter storms swept much of the nation in January and February. 

The nation needed an effective FEMA, which had basically stopped being effective under former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. 

CNN again:

"Multiple FEMA officials speaking candidly to CNN expressed initial concerns about whether Phillips was up to the job. But after a few weeks, several of them told CNN that, to their surprise, Phillips' hands-on involvement during the spate of storms had softened some of their doubts." 

Even so, the Phillips' teleporting claims are keeping FEMA in the midst of upheaval, even as we are now in the heart of tornado and severe storm season. 

We have this epilogue from CNN:

"After CNN first reported on Philipps' teleportation claims, the White House contacted the Department of Homeland Security - FEMA's parent agency - urging officials either to remove Phillips or keep him out of public view, a White House official told CNN"

I just wish whoever it is who does all the teleporting could just move the bozos out of FEMA and replace them with at least semi-competent people to ensure people can recover after the inevitable next spate of weather and climate disasters.

 

Global Temperatures In February Cooled In The Most Minuscule, Inconsequential Way; U.S. February

February, 2026 was the worlds fifth warmest on record.
La Nina might have cooled the month a little, but
 still coming in fifth warmest under that La Nina
is disconcerting. It should have been cooler, if
not for climate change. 

After oh, so many months in which global temperatures were the warmest, second warmest or third warmest on record, February maintained a "cooler trend" of sorts that started in January. 

But it was so scant that this February was still among the top five warmest on record for the world says NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

They write: 

"February 2026 was Earth's fifth-warmest February since records began in 1850, with a surface temperature 2.12 degrees F (1.18 degree C) above the 20th-century average. The 10 warmest Februaries on record have all occurred since 2016 and this month marked the 47th consecutive February with an above average temperature." 

For the past couple of years, it's been hard to find spots in the world during particular months that were chillier than the 20th century average. They were there, but few and far between. 

In February, the global temperature map was still overwhelmingly orange and red, indicating that most everyone was warmer than average.

But there were slightly more small cool patches than I've seen in a year or two. Those places were a section of the Arctic just north of Canada and Alaska; the southeastern United States, Scandinavia, northern Australia and a small pocket in southwest Africa. 

There were, as per the course in recent years many spots that were far warmer than the long time average from the 20th century. They include the western United States, especially the Southwest;  far northeastern Canadathe central North Atlantic Ocean; the Middle East; northwest Asia, parts of northern and eastern Africa, and parts of the western Pacific Ocean. 

Both January and February were a slight departure from recent years. Most months her the past there years or so were the warmest, second warmest or third warmest. So seeing two months in a row that were "mere" fifth warmest is a bit of a change. But not much of one.

It appears that in January and February, the world was probably feeling the fullest effects of the La Nina, which tends to cool the world.  If the world "cools" because of La Nina and the first two months of the year are still the fifth warmest out of the past 176 years, that's not great to say the least. 

Also, the ten hottest Februaries have all occurred since 2016.

NOAA predicts that La Nina will fade during the spring, and chances are we'll have an El Nino by summer or fall. El Ninos tend to warm up the world, so an El Nino risks taking the world to new heat heights, beyond the record years of 2023 and 2024. 

Global temperatures trends usually lag behind the onset of La Nina or El Nino, so my guess is we won't feel the effects of the likely oncoming El Nino much this year. But in 2027, watch out!

UNITED STATES

Map shows by how much temperatures were 
above or below normal during February, 2026.
The western two thirds of the U.S. was a blowtorch

The continental United States had its fourth warmest February on record, marked by another month of bizarre winter heat. Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming all had their warmest Februaries on record. Including those states, 19 states had one of their top ten warmest Februaries. 

The immediate East Coast from New England to the Carolinas was the coolest region relative to average. 

But those areas did not come close to breaking records.  Rhode Island came closest, if you ca call it that, logging in its 36th coldest February out of the past 132 years. Massachusetts was close, coming in at #38 on the list of chilliest Februaries 

Here in Vermont, we came in with the 50th coldest February in the past 132 years.

February also turned out to be the nation's fifth driest on record.

Interestingly, despite a record-setting blizzard on February 22-24, New England was very dry. Rhode Island, the state hit hardest by that blizzard, had its 11th driest February. It was even drier elsewhere in the region. 

Maine had its second driest February. It was the 7th driest in New Hampshire, 8th driest in Massachusetts and 10th driest in Vermont. 

The dry weather was widespread throughout the United States. Mississippi had its driest February on record. Other states in the top ten driest were South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. 

The dry weather through the central an southern Plains contributed to numerous damaging wildfires. Those fires grew worse in March. 

Only North Dakota was a little warmer than average, coming in with its 32nd wettest February.

March so far is coming in as a real contender for the hottest third month of the year in the United States. It could even beat out the notorious March, 2012 for unseasonably early heat, a feat many thought virtually impossible. 

But climate change seems to make anything possible, which is a frightening thing. 

Meteorological winter, December 1-February 28, was the nation's second warmest winter on record, driven by ridiculous winter heat in the west. Incredibly, nine large states in the west had their warmest winter on record, while seven others scored in the top 10 warmest. 

Parts of the Northeast were on the cool side, but only clocked in at around 30th to 40th coldest, so nothing remarkable on that side.  

Vermont Experienced Coldest February, And Coldest Winter Overall, Since 2015

Henry the Weather Dog makes his way down  his St.
Albans, Vermont driveway, flanked by big snowbanks.
Snowfall hasn't been that much above normal, but 
consistent cold weather has kept snow on the ground
This February was coldest since 2015.

The data is in - at least some of it - and as I'm sure you noticed, Vermont experienced its coldest February in over a decade.  

For the record, the average February temperature in Burlington was 19.5 degrees, or 3.4 degrees colder than average. The last time we had a colder month than this was in January, 2022. The last time we had a colder February was in 2015, but that one was really cold. With an average temperature of 7.6 degrees, February, 2015 was the third coldest on record.

This February wasn't particularly cold by historical standards. By my reckoning, it was the 56th coldest out of the past 139 years in Burlington. 

It just seemed a lot colder because Februaries since 2016 ranged from kinda mild to incredibly warm for the season. Three of the top five warmest Februaries in Burlington came after 2015. 

In Burlington, it got to zero or below on eight occasions, again the most since 2015. That month had 17 such cold mornings. It appears the driving force behind February's chill was overnight lows. 

Burlington's average overnight low in February was 5.1 degrees below the "new normal," which is the mean of data from 1990 to 2020. Remember, those years had already been affected by climate change. Historically, Burlington was colder. 

February was the fourth consecutive cooler than the 1990-2020 average, as measured in2 Burlington. That's the first time since 2018-19 that has happened.  There were actually nine consecutive months that were at least nominally cooler than normal from October, 2018 through June, 2019. 

This was also the first year since 2019 that Lake Champlain had entirely frozen over. 

DATA ISSUES

A bit of a whine here: There is a LOT of missing data in the National Weather Service February climate summaries for various cities in Vermont.  I was able to piece together complete data for Burlington and St. Johnsbury using daily data in February I found from other areas of the NWS web site. 

But I was unable to find complete data for much of the rest of Vermont, making it almost impossible to detect trends in this February's weather across the state.   

I put in an inquiry today to the National Weather Service asking whether this data will be recovered and added to the incomplete monthly summaries now on the NWS website. 

I don't expect them to answer on a Sunday, so I'll keep you posted as to what's up with this. 

The missing data might be related to some problems with National Weather Service automated data transfers. One question I asked in my inquiry is whether this is all related to those awful DOGE cutbacks at the National Weather Service.  I honestly have no idea if the data issue is related to the cutbacks or not, so I'll reserve judgement. 

I noticed the same problem with data back in August.  I looked at the August data today, and it appears almost all the missing data from that month has been added back in. August data is definitely more complete now. 

I'm hoping the February data gets reviewed and the missing data is restored as it was in August. It is Sunday, so maybe they don't have the staff to deal with this issue until the work week.  

This isn't any kind of slap at the meteorologists at the National Weather Service in South Burlington. They do incredible work.  I just worry that they, and personnel at all the other meteorologists nationwide, no longer have all the resources they should have. 

MORE FEBRUARY INFO

Precipitation in Burlington amounted to an even inch, which is 0.77 inches below normal. I was able to look back 144 years and it turns out this February was the 30th driest on record. Other weather stations in Vermont appear to have been on the dry side as well. But again, the missing data makes it a little hard to truly assess that. 

Once again, Vermont tended to sit out dramatic weather events that were hitting other parts of the United States. In Burlington, February 20 was both the wettest and snowiest day of the month with 5.7 inches of snow which melted down to just a hair  under a half inch. As you can see, those figures don't exactly tell the tale of a big storm. It was just a routine snowfall. 

The lack of thaws this winter has allowed snow to accumulate pretty well, despite snowfall that has not been far from average, except in the mountains, which have had a good snow season.

Most towns in Vermont had at least a foot of snow on the ground on the last day of February. Several places had two feet or more. That kind of snow cover isn't anywhere close to record-breaking, but it's pretty good. Especially for places that need moisture because of the lingering effects of last year's drought. 

In Burlington, through yesterday, there has been snow on the ground for 83 days, the most days like that in at least 22 years. 

MARCH OUTLOOK

March is always a wildcard and this year is no exception. We're starting off bitterly cold, like mid-winter, but temperatures will go above normal later this week.  We don't yet know how far above normal readings will get or how long the warmish weather will last. 

March has the most variable weather of any month. Temperatures during March in Burlington have been as low as 24 below and as high as 84 above. More often than not, we get a March like 2017. The first day of that month was springlike, with a record high of 63 degrees. By the March 14, 2017, the "Pi Day Blizzard" hit. That one is still the second deepest snowstorm on record in Burlington, with 30.4 inches. 

So yeah, don't be surprised if the weather surprised you this month. 

The forecast from NOAA has Vermont leaning toward a warmer than average March, but it's not a slam dunk. NOAA thinks precipitation in the Green Mountain State during March will be near to perhaps edging a bit above normal. 

We will of course, see whether that forecast was accurate in about a month. If we can get the data.  

World Had Fifth Warmest January Despite Arctic Block That Kept Parts Of Europe, U.S.

January was the worlds fifth warmest on record 
Blocking high pressure in the Arctic kept that
region exceptionally warm, while parts of 
Europe and North America were 
a little cool as a result of that blocking

It might have seemed cold locally, but the world had its fifth warmest January on record, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. 

"This marks the 50th consecutive January (since 1977) with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th -century average. The 10 warmest Januarys on record have occurred since 2007, with the most recent five years (2022-26),"  NCEI noted in its monthly report.    

When you look at the data and maps from this monthly report, you can really see in this report how a persistent blocking pattern messed with temperatures in the northern hemisphere. 

High pressure over the Arctic and Greenland made that area super warm compared to average. That was especially true in northern and western Greenland and northeastern Canada.

Meanwhile, this pattern squashed the frigid air in the Arctic southward. That's why the eastern United States, northern and central Europe and most of the western two thirds of Russia were on the cool side.  

The cold air was also forced to spread out over a larger land area by this pattern, helping keep the world's January as a whole cooler than it otherwise would have been overall. Also, the effects of La Nina, which tends to cool the world, would be peaking roughly about now. 

No areas came close to the coldest on record. 

Fifth hottest is still impressively warm. Given the factors above, January shouldn't have been that warm. Climate change is still ruling the roost. As we previously reported, an El Nino is brewing for later this year, and that could bring the world's temperature to new and dangerous heights late this year or in 20247. 

In January, 2026, besides the Arctic, other areas that were much warmer than normal were Africa, which had its warmest January on record. Other hot areas include central Asia, southern Australia, much of western Canada, the western United States and the Atlantic Ocean between the Caribbean and Africa. 

UNITED STATES

The data confirms it: We had a remarkable west-east divide during January. 

Data confirms the Lower 48 had a warm west and a 
cold east Note that western temperatures were
near record highs, while eastern temperatures
were generally just somewhat cooler than average.

The East had a real winter, while the West was having a year without a winter in January. As NCEI tells us: 

"Temperatures were much above average across a large portion of the western third of the (United States). Oregon, California, Utah and Arizona each had one of the six warmest starts of the year. Along with Washington, Nevada and New Mexico, they each recorded their warmest December-January period on record."

Thought the East was cold, the chill didn't come close to breaking records for the month. Ohio came the closest, ending the month as 31st coldest out of the past 132 years. Pennsylvania was 32nd coldest .

For the record, we in Vermont had our 75th coldest January, or 57th warmest January, depending on how you want to look at it. 

Mix it all together and the United States ended up having its 19th warmest January. 

Precipitation was scant, despite a wide-ranging winter storm toward the end of the month. January ended up as the eleventh driest on record for the Lower 48. The Northwest and northern Rockies were particularly dry. Oregon and Montana had their fifth driest Januaries on record. 

Only four states - Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin were noticeably wetter than average and even those states did not come anywhere close to record wet.

Here in Vermont, we had our 48th driest January out of the past 132 years.  

January had a few other impressive weather events that I missed as they unfold.

On January 8 and 9 rare winter flash flooding occurred in parts of Wisconsin and Illinois amid a burst of record warmth that brought temperatures in the low 60s, and heavy rain. Up to three inches of rain fell near Chicago.  Chicago had as much rain in one day as they normally have in the entire month of January. 

Alaska had rough January. We already reported on the epic, record snows around Juneau in December and early January, which were followed by flooding. But two of Alaska's other larger cities had their own issues. 

The temperature in Fairbanks never got above zero for 32 consecutive days ending on January 14. That's the longest stretch of continuous subzero cold in more than 100 years.  Down in Anchorage, January snowfall set a record with 40.2 inches of snow.

On the warm side of things, St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands had their warmest January on record with an average temperature of 81.6 degrees.

 

New York City Rediscovers Winter,And Not Everybody Is Happy About It

This screen grab of a New York City webcam on Friday 
looked peaceful enough, but some New Yorkers are 
not handling the toughest winter in recent memory
very well. It gets very cold again this weekend. 

Snow and winter cold that just won't go away is driving some New Yorkers batty. 

As many of us know, almost a foot snow and sleet fell on New York City back on January 25 and it has just sat there. Stubbornly. Daring for people to say mean things about it as it turns gray, yellow, slushy and gross. 

Mean things are also being said about the air temperatures, which has been consistently colder than it's been in yeats. 

And those mean things are being said. 

Egged on by the New York Post, a right wing, Murdoch owned publication, New Yorkers, mostly of MAGA ilk are enraged that snow is still narrowing sidewalks, making parking difficult and is just plain nasty to look at, now that it's been sitting around getting dirty for more than a week.

Trash bags are still out there too, as the sanitation department focused on clearing snow, so some trash pickups were delayed.

All that snow I'm sure is frustrating to New Yorkers. But it's mostly really about the Post and MAGA trying to do anything to take leftie Mayor Zohran Mamdani down a peg. Because he's - gasp! a democratic socialist. 

Hizzoner probably hasn't done a perfect job with this winter storm. No mayor would. But from my vantage point, he's done pretty well from what I can see. But what do I know? I'm just a hick from Vermont who has plenty of room to throw snow out of the way if I need to. 

The complaints seem to center on the fact that in past big storms the snow disappeared from the streets pretty quickly after big storms. 

Which is true. 

But the whiners don't seem to understand the concept of thawing. 

The temperature in New York has remained near or below freezing since the storm hit on January 25 and 26. Most past storms featured warmer, thawing weather right after the storm.

The complainers point to a 27 inch blizzard on January 23, 2016. That one was more than twice as deep as this year's snowfall, but it disappeared fairly quickly. It was above freezing in New York every day after that snowstorm. It was 47 degrees on January 27, 56 degrees on January 31 and a toasty 60 on February 1

Snow depth fell to just six inches within a week after the storm. By February 2, only a trace remained. 

It's not like everybody is complaining. A lot of New Yorkers just say fughetaboutit

On Threads, a New Yorker very reasonably wrote: "All these people talking about yellow snow and dirty snow. Garbage piled up. This is how it has always been after a snowstorm. For decades. It doesn't make it right. It just makes it true. Don't blame Mamdani. Don't blame the MTA. Understand that it takes time to remove snow in a city this size."

Other people got deliciously sarcastic on line:

"After TWO WEEKS there's STILL snow in Central Park, New York City! When will Mamdani get rid of it! Another epic fail!" 

The writer made clear this was indeed sarcasm, so other people mockingly piled on poor Mayor Mamdani. 

"Why hasn't Mamdani made the temperature go above 40 degrees yet?"

"And when will that monster finally put the leaves back on the trees?"

"Socialism brings snow. Why do you think Russia has so much snow?"

"Snow never existed before he was mayor. He cast a spell to create this thing called snow."

"Wasn't he to blame for the blizzard of '96?"

Mamdani was four years old when the blizzard of 1996, so it of course makes perfect sense that this notorious storm was his fault. 

CLEANUP CONTINUES

 New York has alternate side parking rules in which people need to park on one side of the street some days, and other side on different days. This allows for street cleaning.

The city suspended the rules after the big snowstorm on January 25-26. But the suspension ends on Super Bowl Sunday - this weekend -  and quite a few cars are buried under snow and ice. Those buried cars will need to be moved by then, or there will be towing and serious expenses for those car owners. 

It was fairly mild by this winters standards in New York Thursday and Friday which softened the ice encasing the cars a little. That was everybody's last chance to dig out their vehicles. With another intense blast of Arctic cold surging into New York, the ice around those cars is no doubt hard as concrete again. Good luck getting rid of that.   

I'm sure there will be plenty more whining when the expensive parking tickets and towing hit on Monday. 

NO FERRIES

Ferry service on the Hudson and East Rivers have been suspended for a week and that's not going to change anytime soon.  So much ice has built up around Manhattan island that it's too unsafe for ferries to operate.

The ice diminished around Manhattan this week, but it's still there. And those frigid conditions forecast for the weekend mean that you're not going to take the famous Staten Island Ferry or any other ferries for awhile yet if you're around New York. 

At least New York is in for a minor break, anyway. After this cold snap clears out, daytime temperatures most of this week will be in the 30s. 

Vermont January Weather On Paper Was Pretty Average, But February Looking Harsher

An intense snow squall loomed over Lake Champlain, as
seen from Burlington, Vermont on January 22. It was
one of the few instances of weather drama in the state
this January. While the rest of the U.S endured extremes.
Vermont just kind of poked along with near normal weather.

It might not seem like it, given the recent bone-chilling weather in Vermont, but overall, January was right around average both in terms of temperature and precipitation. 

A relatively warm start to the month and a cold finish sort of balanced January's books. 

Compared to most Januaries,  and compared to the weather drama January, 2026 caused elsewhere in the nation, Vermont's version of the month was quiet and shy.  

TEMPERATURES

Burlington's average temperature for January, 2026 was 20.0 degrees, which was just 0.9 degrees cooler than normal.

Out of the past 137 years of accurate records in Burlington, this January was the 55th warmest, or 82nd coolest, however you want to look at it. So pretty much in the middle.

An odd trend I found statewide is that average high temperatures for this January were cooler than normal but overnight lows were close to average. In Burlington, the average high for the month of 26.6 degrees was 2.3 degrees on the chilly side. But the daily low temperature average was 13.5 degrees which was a little more than half a degree on the warm side. 

I found the same trend of chilly high temperatures and near average low temperatures when I looked at Montpelier, Rutland, St. Johnsbury and Woodstock.  

This was the first time since January-March, 2015 in which Burlington had three consecutive colder than average months. 

Temperatures during the month never got on the extreme side, either. The warmest it got in Burlington was 49 degrees. The warmest it's ever been in January is 66 degrees, in 1995. Likewise, Burlington's low temperature for the month was 8 below. The coldest it's ever been in January is 30 below, in 1957.

PRECIPITATION

Rain and melted snow were pretty average during January in Vermont, too. Burlington had 2.19 inches of precipitation, which was just 0.06 inches above average. I was able to find 144 consecutive years of reliable January precipitation data for Burlington. January, 2026 was the 45th wettest or 99th driest, depending on how you want to loo at it. Again, nothing scary in that department either. 

Snowfall was near to above normal, riding mostly on the large snowstorm on January 25-26 that dumped around 20 inches of snow in some parts of the state. This was part of a massive, destructive winter storm that basically trashed most of the southern and eastern parts of the U.S.

True to form, though, Vermont's version of the storm was just a pretty, fluffy, happy winter snow day. The only other semi-dramatic day came on the 22nd, when there were some pretty intense, but brief snow squalls around the state. 

It was, as usual for winter, a windy month, especially in the Champlain Valley. Fourteen days had wind gusts at or above 30 mph in Burlington. Winds reached 50 mph on January 9. 

OUTLOOK

January is usually the coldest month of the year, but in 2026, February has a very strong chance of being the chilliest month of the winter. 

The cold weather pattern that took hold in the final week or so of January looks like it's going to stubbornly hang on for quite awhile. Who knows? Maybe all month.   

The weather pattern that has set up for February tends to be very dry, too. We call it a "continental month" since winters smack dab in the middle of North American tend to be very cold and very dry. 

The forecasts are pretty unanimous that depending on the day, it'll be either sort of cold or really cold through the middle of February. 

There's a chance of some sort of pattern change later in the month, but we don't know if or how that's going to arrange itself. If this cold pattern lasts all of February, though, we have an excellent chance of seeing one of the driest Februarys on record. 

The driest February on record in Burlington was in 1978 with just 0.21 inches of precipitation. That was a classic "continental month" as well, as it still ranks as the fourth coldest February on record in Burlington, with an average temperature of 9.5 degrees.

If any of you asking weather February, 1978 was when New England's Blizzard of '78 happened, it did. However that blizzard largely missed northwest parts of the Green Mountain State. To really geek out, all but 0.01 inches of February, 1978's meager precipitation came on Feb 6-8, when the blizzard was passing by to the southeast of Burlington. 

U.S. Just Had Fourth Warmest Year On Record. Was Also A Busy Storm Year

Virtually all of the Lower 48 had a warmer than normal
year in 2025. Those little white spots were close to 
average. Overall, it was the fourth warmest year on record.

The United States had its fourth warmest year on record in 2025, and it was an active storm year, according to a year in review from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. 

The report from NCEI came out the same time as their global report for 2025. That report, as I posted about Thursday. indicated the the world had its third warmest year in 2025 and that the past three years have been by far the world's warmest on record. 

Per NCEI:

"Temperatures were above average nationwide, with the most pronounced warmth across the western third of the country. The Rockies and Westward region, stretching from the West Coast through the Rocky Mountains, recorded its warmest annual temperature on record."

The United States might have had its warmest year on record, or close to it, had we not experienced January, 2025 the way we did. It was the coldest since 1988.

But things quickly heated up from there, as NCEI explains.

"This was followed by the second-warmest spring on record, driven by widespread warmth across the Southeast, where Florida recorded its second warmest May. Summer heat included a late June heatwave affecting over 100 million people ad record warm July overnight temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic.

Anomalous warmth persisted into the latter half of the year, as meteorological fall ranked as the nation's third warmest. Following a November that saw five states set monthly records, nine states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming - recorded their warmest December on record." 

In the end, Nevada and Utah had their warmest year on record. Including those two states a dozen had one of their four warmest years on record. Here in Vermont, the state as a whole had its 18th warmest year. As always, the relative temperatures within the Green Mountain State varied. Burlington had its ninth warmest year. 

The United States as a whole had a drier than normal year. The lower 48 had an average of 29.19 inches of precipitation, which was 0.73 below average.

No state had an extremely high or low amount of precipitation. Kentucky had its ninth wettest year on record and Florida had its 11th driest. The Plains were a little on the wet side, and the East Coast and Southwest were somewhat on the dry side. 

STORMS/DISASTERS

The United States suffered through 23 weather/climate disasters in 2025 that cost at least $1 billion, according to Climate Central.

These 23 disasters cost a total of $115 billion, which is above the inflation-adjusted average of $67.6 billion. Only five other years were more expensive, with 2017 being the worst, with $405.2 billion in damage. 

Tornadoes

The United States had a preliminary count of 1,559 tornadoes in 2025, which is above the average of 1,225 twisters. The past year had the fifth highest tornado count on record. 

 Despite the extra tornadoes, and the strong ones that occurred in 2025, the death toll from twisters was close to average. Sixty-eight people died in tornadoes in 2025, compared to an average of 71.

North Dakota had quite a tornado year in 2025. The first EF-5 tornado - the strongest you can get - since 2013 touched down near Enderlin, North Dakota on June 20. North Dakota also had the most tornadoes in a single year with 72 of them. The old North Dakota record for a single year was 61 in 2010.

Hurricanes/Tropical Storms 

The Atlantic basin had 13 named storms in 2025, which is a smidge under the average. For the first time  since 2015, no hurricanes made landfall in the United States, which was a welcome break from a string of disastrous hurricane years. 

We were especially lucky since many of the hurricanes that did form were unusually strong. Three Category 5 hurricanes formed, which is the second  most on record. There was also Category 4 Gabrielle.

Easily the worst hurricane of the bunch was Melissa. A dropsonde recorded a wind gust of 252 mph at an elevation of 820 above the ocean as the hurricane was approaching Jamaica. That was a world record, exceeding the previous dropsonde record of 248 mph in Typhoon Mega in the western Pacific Ocean in 2010. 

DECEMBER IN REVIEW

December was incredibly warm in the West, with nine
states having their hottest December on record.
The Northeast was a little on the cool side. 

As mentioned above, the notable news about the December was the huge area in the West that had its hottest December on record. Overall, last month in the Lower 48 was the fifth warmest on record, NCEI tells us.    

Most months this year had very few areas in the United States that were cooler than normal However, in December, chilly air in the Northeast slightly offset the heat in the west. This helps explain why December was only the fifth warmest, and not the warmest.  

Nine northeastern states were cooler than most months in the 131 years of record. But none were particularly close to the coldest on record. The closest to the record was Pennsylvania, which had its 36th coolest December, so not that impressive. Here in Vermont, we had our 42nd chilliest December out of the past 131 years. Again, not an impressive record.

The West was impressive, however.

Three of the nine western states (Utah, Nevada and Arizona) that had their hottest December broke the previous record by more than 2.5 degrees. It's exceeding rare to break a previous hottest month record by one degree or more. 

Also three states - Utah, Wyoming and Colorado - were more than 10 degrees warmer than average. Again, that's an incredible feat. 

Precipitation in the Lower 48 averaged out to 2.01 inches, which is 0.33 inches below average. Like temperatures in December, precipitation was maldistributed. 

The central and southern Plains and most of the Gulf Coast were much drier than they should have been. Oklahoma had its driest December on record. Oklahoma City, for example, had just 0.09 inches of rain in December. They should have had about 1.8 inches. 

Seven other states in the parched region had one of their top ten driest Decembers on record.

On the opposite extreme, Washington, Montpelier, Idaho and Wyoming had one of their top ten wettest Decembers on record. 

 

Trump Pulls Out Of Climate Treaty, Continuing His Quest To Turn U.S. Into A Pariah Nation

Donald Trump is pulling out of a basic but hugely
important global climate treaty as he continues
his march to make the U.S. an economic and
political pariah basket case. 

 Donald Trump continued on with his desire to turn himself and the U.S. into a worldwide embarrassment Wednesday by announcing the United States is pulling out of a longstanding critical climate agreement. 

The agreement Trump is pulling the plug on is the overarching global treaty on climate change. It's called the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC.  We will now become the only nation on the planet not part of this agreement. 

The agreement, ratified by Congress in 1992, doesn't force the U.S. to cut fossil fuels or reduce pollution. But it forms the basis and sets up the process for climate agreements like the Kyoto Protocol in 1995 and the Paris Agreement in 2015. Both the 1995 and 2015 accords are considered two monumental moments of global cooperation in the fight against climate change, as CNN notes. 

Trump has already started the process of pulling the United States out of Paris Agreement. The process finishes up this month, which leaves the U.S., Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries not committed to the Paris accord.  

 The U.S was the first industrialized nation to join the UNFCCC treaty and it will be the only nation ever to leave it. So it's another sign of how far we've fallen under Trump, as if we need more evidence.

The UNFCCC was one of 66 organizations the U.S. is abandoning, as the administration announced Wednesday. 

"Many of these bodies promote radical climate policies, global governance, and ideological programs that conflict with U.S. sovereignty and economic strength," said a statement from the White House.

Which is rich, since we've been stomping all over other nations' sovereignty lately. 

Trump and his minions are part of a small and ever-shrinking group of holdouts who still think climate change isn't happening, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. The years 2023 or 2024 were the world's hottest on record. As of this writing, the number crunchers were still trying to figure out if 2025 was the world's second or third hottest year on record. 

Pretty much everybody outside the MAGA sphere thinks pulling out of the UNFCCC is an incredibly dumb idea. 

Politico is among the many news organizations giving us some examples:

"Of all the wreckage Donald Trump is leaving in his wake, this one could be among the most consequential and damaging, particularly for future generations," said John Podesta, the climate policy coordinator for Presidents Obama and Biden.

World Resources Institute U.S. Director David Widawsky said withdrawal from UNFCCC is "a strategic blunder that gives away American advantages for nothing in return."

Other critics point out that the United States will now miss out on billions or even trillions of dollars in clean energy investments as the world moves away from fossil fuel consumption. Whether Trump likes it or not.

Like pretty much everything Trump does, we don't even know if withdrawing from UNFCCC is legal. The Senate ratified it, so we don't know from a legal standpoint if Trump can unilaterally pull the plug by himself. 

But since we have a MAGA-majority Congress and a MAGA-majority Supreme Court, both of which have given up their authority to Trump, it doesn't really matter.  We used to be a nation of laws. Now, apparently,  the law is just what Trump says it is. 

If sanity ever returns, getting back into the UNFCCC would also be complicated. So would rejoining other pacts, like the Paris Agreement.  (The Paris agreement is the one that pledges to keep global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-Industrial levels. It's getting more and more doubtful that goal can be accomplished, so now the goal seems to be shifting to 2 degrees).

As Politico tells us:

"Some legal experts say the Senate's consent does not operate in perpetuity after the U.S. leaves a treaty. Others argue that if a president can unilaterally leave a treaty, a future could rejoin it without a new vote.

Whatever happens, Trump is once again diminishing the nation's strength, influence and leadership, even as he somehow thinks he's increasing it. 

Trump is sort of the mascot of the Dunning-Kruger effect, part of which suggests that stupid people think they know a lot more about subjects than they do.  To Trump, as his narcissistic personality disorder rages out of control, thinks he alone is smarter than all of the climate experts out there. 

Plus he wants to keep his fossil fuel oligarch buddies happy, so there's that.  

You Betcha! Vermont December Was A Chilly One: 2nd Coldest Of This Century So Far

Henry the Weather Dog spent a good part of New Year's
Eve day wrapped in blankets and pleading for warmer
weather after the second coldest December in the 
past 25 years. If long range forecasts are correct,
Henry is going to be disappointed. 

EDITORS NOTE: I'm starting the first morning of the New Year with a look back at December.  A rundown of the entire year of 2025 is coming in a post later today. For now, let's take a not-so-nostalgic look back at December 2025. 

If you felt like we had an old fashioned type of December in Vermont, you're absolutely right. 

In Burlington, it was the second coldest December in the past 25 years. Only December. 2017 was a smidge chillier than the month we just ended.

But in our climate-changed world, December, 2025 wasn't all that cold compared to many years in the 20th century. 

In Burlington, by my reckoning, it was just tied for 48th coldest out of the past 135 years. In other words, it was just a slightly chilly but unremarkably cold month. 

The climate change-influenced "new normal" compares this month to the average of years between 1990 and 2020. By that standard, December 2025 was right around five degrees colder than "normal" statewide. 

Nights were colder compared to average than daytime highs. Daily low temperatures last month were six to seven degrees cooler than the "new" average across the state. Daytime highs were between 3.5 and 4.5 chillier than that average. 

In terms of precipitation, I'll give you an oxymoron: It was the most extremely normal month I can remember. 

I say that because total rain and melted snow were almost exactly average for December in the reporting stations I looked at. Precipitation was around three inches, give or take. 

Burlington was just a third of an inch wetter than average. Montpelier was less than a quarter inch on the dry side. Bennington was about a tenth of an inch on the wet side. Rutland, St. Johnsbury and Woodstock were all within 0.06 inches of normal. 

It's really remarkable that rain and melted snow in the whole state was that close to normal. 

Moderate to locally severe drought continues in northeastern Vermont, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. It's been that way for weeks. I don't think it's as dire as it looks. The ground is largely frozen, so water isn't seeping in yet. A lot of precipitation lately has been in the form of snow. That's just banked up moisture for the spring.

Unless the rest of the winter is remarkably dry, I think you'll see the lingering drought easing up during the spring. 

Snowfall was somewhat above normal statewide. I noticed Burlington, Rutland and St. Johnsbury, to take some examples, were about five inches on the plus side for snow. 

If your hat kept blowing off during December, there's a good reason for that. Especially in the Champlain Valley. In Burlington, 21 days out of the month had gusts to 30 mph or greater. Eight of those days gusted to 40 mph or more. 

Periodic local power outages were the theme of the month.

We only had two big storms during the month, both in the second half of the month. 

On December 19, we had a brief break in the cold as a powerful storm passed by to our west. Burlington soared to 63 degrees, shattering the old record for the date, which was 49 degrees. Strong winds blasted through Vermont during the storm. As many as 20 percent of Vermont households and businesses lost power at various points in that storm. 

Another storm on December 29 dumped a bunch of freezing rain on much of the state.  Power was again cut to thousands of homes and businesses. Police agencies throughout the state dealt with hundreds of car crashes and spinouts on icy roads and highways. 

LOOKING AHEAD

January is beginning as December left off. It's cold out there. 

Most of the snow from last night was finished as of mid-morning today. We have a frigid several days to look forward to. 

Temperatures in the teens this morning will fall into the single numbers by this afternoon.  A stinging northwest wind will make it feel worse. Pretty much everyone in the Green Mountain State will see the,peratures below zero overnight and into tomorrow morning. 

Each day through next Monday will feature highs in the chilly teens and lows within a few degrees either side of zero. There are signs we might see something of a warmup toward the middle and end of next week. We're not sure how big that warmup might be or whether it will last more than a couple days. 

There are no large or even mid-sized storms in sight for the next several days. The next chance of even a somewhat noticeable storm isn't due until maybe next Wednesday. And so far, even that potential storm looks kind of underwhelming. 

Longer range forecasts can be unreliable. But the NOAA is predicting an overall January weather pattern almost identical to the one we had in December. That means - if this forecast is accurate - we'll have another colder than normal January, possibly even well below normal. NOAA has equal chances of us seeing above or below normal precipitation. 

November Global Temperatures Were 3rd Warmest On Record

November, 2025 was the world's third warmest on
record. As usual, it was hard to find the few
cooler than normal areas (in blue)

 Continuing a trend that started half a year ago, the world had its third warmest November on record, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. 

 This was the sixth month in a row that the world had a third warmest month, in each case just behind 2023 and 2024. 

The warmest places relative to normal were in the Arctic, most of the Northern Hemisphere land areas, eastern Antarctica, southern Africa and eastern Europe. 

As always in this age of climate change, November cool spots were hard to find. Those few relatively chilly areas included northeastern Russia, parts of the central an eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, bits and pieces of Australia, and a persistent cold blob south of Greenland. 

We do the following every month to show how entrenched climate change has become: If you under age 49 you have never seen a month that globally was even a tiny bit cooler than the 20th century average. 

Depending upon how the December figures come out, 2025 will either be the third hottest year on record, to it will tie with 2023 as second hottest. Last year was the globe's hottest since people starting keeping reliable records in the 1850. 

The warm November contributed to a year that's messing with a key climate goal the United Nations set nearly a decade ago. 

The UN in 2016 adopted a legally binding compact -- the Paris Agreement -- that aims to keep global temperatures no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the 20th century agreement.

As Yale Climate Connections reports, it looks the warmth of this year will mean the three-year average temperature, 2023 -2025 will end up warmer 1.5 degree Celsius. 

Does that mean the Paris Agreement is violated? Depends on who you ask, because nobody really defined the parameter of what 1.5 degrees mean in the real world. But my opinion, yes. 

The World Meteorological Organization's 2024 State of the Global Climate Report states that they've convened a panel of experts to determine how exceeding the 1.5 degrees would be defined and tracked. 

We probably will have a few more years that average less than 1.5 degrees below the 20th century average, but they will become  increasingly rare.

Elsewhere, climatologists also like to keep an eye on Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, as those are a key indicator of the planet's climate health. 

The news from the top and bottom of the world was not good. Arctic sea ice in November was the second lowest on record for this time of year. Once we got into December, Arctic sea ice ran neck and neck with 2016 as the least on record. 

Antarctica sea ice was the fourth lowest on record, at least since satellites started keeping track of it in 1978. Only 2016, 2023 and 2024 had less ice way down under. 

UNITED STATES

November in the Lower 48 of the United States was the fourth warmest on record. 

November in the Lower 48 of the U.S was the
fourth warmest on record States in darkest 
red had their warmest on record November. 

The warmth was especially strong in the western United States. Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Utah had their hottest November on record. Utah shattered the record by more than a degree, which is a really impressive

New Mexico had its second warmest November. Colorado, Oklahoma and Wyoming each had their third warmest November. 

When the western part of the nation is warm, more often than not, the eastern part is cool. That was true in November, 2025. But the eastern chill was not nearly as extreme as the western balminess. 

The state-by-state rankings go back 131 years. The "coldest" state in the rankings, was New York, which had its 67th warmest, (or 64th coolest) November on record. Here in Vermont, we had our 62nd warmest November out of the past 131. So pretty much in the middle of the pack.  

The Lower 48 had its 26th driest November out of the past 131 years. Dry weather was well distributed around the nation, but the southeast corner of the U.S. was especially arid. South Carolina had its second driest November, and in Florida, it was third driest. 

Only three states - Arizona, California and South Dakota were noticeably wetter than average, but were not nearly soggy enough to threaten any records. 

Meteorological autumn- September 1 through November 30, was the third warmest on record in the Lower 48. This autumn, all states in the Lower 48 except the Carolinas were at least 1 degree warmer than the 20th century average. 

Seven states - Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington - had their warmest autumn on record.  Remarkably, everyone west of the Mississippi Rivet had one of their top 10 warmest autumn on record. All those states except California had one of their top five hottest falls. (California only had its tenth warmest. 

For the record, Vermont overall had its 23rd warmest autumn out of the past 131 years.